Fighting the Flesh #15: Your Past

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”—2 Corinthians 5:17

One way that we all must battle the flesh is by dealing with and remembering our past before we came to know Christ. As we grow in our new relationship with Jesus, we will inevitably have to deal with our past. We will have to deal with people from our past (and perhaps participated with us) in some of our most rebellious and sinful moments. We will also have to deal with old memories that can come into our mind at a moment’s notice. There are a few things that we can do to help us battle our past.

The first thing we must do is realize we are new creatures. Jesus truly has forgiven our sin—all of it. As the Psalmist wrote, “as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us”—Psalm 103:12. And God will “cast all our sins into the depths of the sea”—Micah 7:19. He transforms us, makes us new. Our old life has passed away and the new has come! We are no longer bound by our sinful pasts, but we have new desires that have been given to us by the Holy Spirit of God. We need to continually remind ourselves of the new life which Christ purchased for us and which we live in by faith (cf. Galatians 2:20).

Secondly, we must train our minds to think God thoughts. We do this by continually washing our minds with the Word of God by reading, meditating, studying, and memorizing it. And then it becomes part of us producing thoughts and actions that are pleasing to God.

Thirdly, we must be careful in dealing with those who come from our past. If we are tempted to continue in sin with the person or persons from our past, we must sever those relationships. Such relationships may lead us away from Christ and into more sin. As Paul wrote, “Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33), and the Proverb says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm”—Proverbs 13:20. When we continually meet and fellowship with God’s people we will continue to be sharpened, as the Proverb has stated, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another”—Proverbs 27:17.

Don’t let your past—memories or people, bring you down or attempt to tear you away from Christ! We are born again! New creatures! The old has passed away; the new has come! Amen.