The Recycle Bin

Typically I am not someone who digs up my past failures or sins only to live them over and over again. Usually I let the past be the past and get on with things. That is of course, as long as it's in MY past. I may not be so quick to let those things go in someone else's past...but I am working on that! Anyhow, I attend a Bible study that met today and one of the ladies mentioned that she is someone who has a tendency to relive her past and struggles with letting the forgiven sins go by the wayside. Her comment caused me to consider this and to visualize what this may look like. I pictured the recycle bin on my computer and thought about how when you delete something, you have the opportunity to retrieve it again unless you empty the recycle bin; in which case it is lost for good..."So long!" I like to keep my recycle bin emptied regularly. Why hang on to those things and allow them to take up valuable space on my hard drive? Our past sins and failures may quite possibly become just like items in the recycle bin.

Which type are you? Are you cautious to not empty the RB (recycle bin) too quickly just in case you made a mistake and deleted something important? Maybe you are like me and are in a hurry to remove trash that is cluttering up your memory. If you are the latter then you probably don't struggle too much with your past, which frees up your time to organize and de-clutter not only your computer but your house, your husband's garage and the kids' rooms, just to name a few areas that probably need your assistance! However, if you do tend to revisit the RB on a regular basis and just can't bring yourself to clean house regularly then you and the Lord need to talk!

God promises believers in His Word that He forgets our sins as far as the east is from the west. If you are traveling east, will you ever catch up with the west? No, you won't...ever. That is God's point. He will never bring up your past sins or failures because He chooses to forget them. When Christ died on the cross, He carried the weight, humility, guilt and shame of every sin you, me, the mailman and the rest of the world ever committed; from the beginning of time to the end! They have been paid for in full and there is nothing that you can do to bring them back to God's mind. So, why hang on to the pain and guilt from them in your own life if God has already moved on? Possibly it is a spiritual battle that Satan, our long-lived enemy is waging with you hoping you will feel inadequate for God to use or causing you to question your salvation. Another option is that you don't feel that Jesus' death was sufficient to pay the price for your sins because they were just too horrific. Well never fear, which ever the case God will and does prevail! Satan can't use the past against you unless you allow it and Jesus' death WAS sufficient for even the worst of sins. Do you realize that if Hitler acknowledged Jesus as his Lord and savior prior to his death that he would be in right relationship with God?

Recycle bins have their purpose on your computer. I myself have retrieved things from mine a time or two, but we don't need them in our relationship with the Lord. As you take your sins to God, you are hitting the delete button once and for all, and so is God. With Him, there is no RB to have to empty or that will allow your nasty mistakes or bad decisions to linger for a later day when you are tempted to revisit your past. So will you trust in the work that Jesus did on the cross and believe that it was a complete and final payment for your sins? Because it was! And the next time that you are tempted to go digging through the trash ask the Lord to remind you of His love and forgiveness and delete that trash from your life once and for all!