Have you found new life? You are not bound by the Past

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So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life….” --John 6:67-68 Did you know that there are more conversations recorded between Jesus and Simon Peter than any other two people in Scripture?  It’s true, and I want to bring your attention to one such conversation. Jesus is saying something so important to you and me through it. Jesus had been teaching to a crowd of people and he started calling them to a commitment… to the demands of a daring faith. And as he called them, some people began to walk away from him. You see, many who followed Jesus were only attracted to the miracles that he performed. They didn’t want to hear about the cost of discipleship. And so as these others departed, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “Do you want to go away as well?” And Simon Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life….” Simon Peter got it! This commoner… this uneducated fisherman… was committed. He would follow Jesus anywhere, because in Christ Jesus he found new hope and a purpose for living!  You see, when you meet the Savior of the world, he changes your life and nothing else can ever satisfy. Don’t walk away from Jesus. Commit your life to him, follow him, and receive new life!   WHEN YOU MEET THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD… NOTHING ELSE CAN EVER SATISFY.

You Are Not Bound by the Past

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.”
Exodus 2:13–15

All of us have failures in our lives. There are moments we would like to change, moments where we did things we should not have done or failed to do the things we should have done. And there are consequences to some of those failures that remain with us, even after we have confessed and forsaken our sins and done what we can to make things right with those we have hurt. But past failure is not an unbreakable bondage that means we can never do anything for God with the rest of our lives—unless we allow ourselves to be bound by the past.
Paul knew something about living with the past. He was prolific in his persecution of the early church, going to great lengths to stamp out the new religion being preached by the followers of Jesus. But after Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, his life took on a completely new direction. I’m sure Paul thought of his own past when he was inspired to pen these words: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). While we should do what we can to undo damage we have brought on others in the past, we find freedom from our past confessing our sin to the Lord and trusting the pardon bought by His blood.
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

The past cannot bind us and render us ineffective to God’s service unless we allow it to do so.