Elder, David Kenser, shares a daily devotion and reflection.
I’ve heard people say that they are glad they made the mistakes before the Internet Era, which perhaps begs for a new age designation B.I.E (before Internet Era). And, it is certainly true that mistakes being made today and posted on Facebook or Twitter or however they get onto social media, are there to be replayed until the Lord returns.
However, our original statement is in error on at least two fronts: 1) None of us has gotten past making mistakes and 2) nothing from our past, B.I.E. or not, remains hidden. If you don’t believe that, just try running for an elected office. And, more than that, there is a divine recollection from which nothing is ever lost: “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open” (Lk 8:17).
You may be thinking you dodged a bullet on some “hidden” indiscretion or misdeed of the past – that nobody knows and no one ever will. News Flash: Someone already knows! You know, and it effects your self-image and causes you to mask, hiding a part of yourself perhaps from even those you’d like to fully self-revealed. And, God knows, “So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Rom 14:12).
So then, for everything we have said and done, there will be an accounting. The books on our lives are complete, there is nothing hidden. We will be be called to account as the Law of Accountability misses nothing, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Gal 6:7).
Sounds kind of bleak, doesn’t it? It is! Unless, you have those past misdeeds, mistakes and misstatements scrubbed from memory. And, as a certain unnamed politician is finding out, nothing is truly and finally scrubbed from memory in our world.
However, there is some Good News! In the kingdom of God, the past can be completely and fully scrubbed: “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Heb 8:12). According to God’s grace, the blood of Christ does that very thing: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Eph 1:7).
Whatever you may be holding on to from your past, keeping close to your chest, you can lay at the feet of Jesus. He has already paid the price for them and wants nothing more than to free you from them, forgiving you completely and totally. Jus’ Say’n.