Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 1 Cor. 6:9-11 (NASB)
I meet with many women who have things in their past they wish had never happened. Some of the things are minor, but quite a few of them are major things like adultery, immorality, or drunkenness. They live with “secret sin” hiding these issues underneath their Christianity, hoping no one will ever find out. There is tremendous fear in every-day life wondering if something or someone will bring their past to light and ruin their present.
The shame that accompanies some past sins can continue to eat away at the joy a woman is supposed to have. She can be living out her day’s activities and something triggers a memory and before she knows it she is thinking about what she did in the past and reliving the guilt and shame all over again. Guilt and shame can seem powerful and overwhelming. They can take even the brightest day and cloud it with doubts.
It is more difficult if there is a person in your life reminding you over and over what you have done. Unfortunately, some husbands who know the past actions of their wives will use that knowledge to control or hurt them. They seem to delight in dragging the past into the present and using old and forsaken sin to wound their wives or to gain the upper hand in an argument. This is in direct conflict with Scripture (Eph 5:25) but to some men that does not matter. Having that last word or that control over her is more important to them than honoring God. This is to their disgrace.
If you are a Christian woman with “a past” I want you to revisit the passage at the head of today’s blog posting. Go ahead, take a minute. Read it, savor it, take it in slowly, and meditate on the words of God written to you.
Yes, you may have been immoral or one who worshiped things or people other than God. You may have had an abortion or committed adultery in your past, but what I want you to remember is what verse 11 tells you.
Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 1 Cor. 6:11 (NASB)
Because I too am a woman with a past I revel in the fact that I am washed clean from my sin, and so are you. We have been washed by the blood of the Lamb and exchanged our filthy garments for linens that are as white as snow (Isa. 61:10)
“Come now, and let us reason together, Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. Isa. 1:18 (NASB)
We have been sanctified (Heb. 10:10). This means that we have been purified from the deeds of the past. We have not been imperfectly purified; we have been completely purified by Christ for the glory of God.
For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 9:24-26 (NASB)
We have also been justified in the name of Jesus, our Lord (Rom. 5:1). In Christ, it is just as though we never sinned in those ways. We have been saved from wrath because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:9) and we have no reason to fear. When God looks upon the Justified, He sees Christ not our old sin.
Please be encouraged today; you belong to God in Christ and your sin has been separated from you as far as the east is from the west!