The world will tell you that the dominating influence in your life is your past. If you came from a difficult home life, that will determine the direction of your life. If your culture was treated unfairly, that will dictate the condition of your life today. If you were hurt or abused or if your youth was spent in rebellion, the remainder of your life will be spent struggling with your past. The world is preoccupied with the past because it faces an uncertain future.

Christians, on the other hand, live in freedom because Christ has overcome our past. The “old things” have been done away with and “new things” have come (2 Corinthians 5:17). God has so totally forgiven the Christian’s sin that He chooses not to remember it (Isaiah 43:265). Christians do not forget the past, but we are not controlled or motivated by it. The Christian looks to the future with hope.