Seth Farrior oversees the Internet Campus at Seacoast Church and I asked him to write a guest post. I think you’ll enjoy the perspective that he offers here and please feel free to leave any comments. You can follow Seth on Twitter @SethFarrior.

Who says we have to repair the pains caused to us in our past?  How can you really make the wrongs right? I am not talking financial debts.  I am talking about the pain at someone else’s hand.  I am talking about the stupid decision we made ourselves as well.  We can justify it, put a cute spin on it, or look at it from the other persons’ point of view.  The phrase “forgive and forget” works great for the small stuff but the big things…no way.  You just can’t forget some things.  But no matter how bad our past is, it has very little to do with our future.  What happened to us doesn’t have to determine what can happen through us if we focus on Him.  He can make humans out of dust, beauty out of ashes and old things new.  I believe that one of Satan’s tricks is to keep us focused on the past.  Who hurt us, what was unfair, and even all the mistakes we have made ourselves.  Let’s be honest, we have made some incredibly dumb decisions in the past and we can’t help those horrible things that were done to us.  Honestly, in my experience there is nothing that will ever make us forget them or make them ok.  The only hope we have for our past is forgiveness.  Why do you think Satan fights so hard to give us reasons why it’s not ok to forgive the person that caused them?  I heard someone say that they couldn’t forgive someone because that would be like saying what they did was ok.  That is not it at all.  It means that no matter how bad it was, we are showing that person grace and forgiveness anyway.  That person also includes you.     Again, that person also includes You!

So many times in my personal struggles I hear myself saying, “You aren’t qualified to do this.  Don’t you know who of are? Don’t you remember all things you have done in the past?  What about all those little thoughts that run through your head?” One day God gave me a little phrase for someone that was going through an extremely tough situation and it just applies to these comments so well.  He said “it’s true but it’s not the Truth”. It is true the things we have done. It is true that we continue to sin.  It is true that we are not qualified to do the work of The Lord. However, the Truth is our sins have been forgiven if we put our hope in Him. The Truth is we are in a constant state of becoming holy and pure (Sanctification) and that Jesus (the only perfect person) stands in our place. The Truth is without Him we are nothing but with Him we are complete and He will do a mighty work within and through us if we allow Him too.

The enemy wants us to beat ourselves up and focus on the past and our deficiencies. If we do, then we take our attention off of God and what He did on the cross and what He wants to accomplish here on Earth through His people (YOU.)  Stay focused on the Truth! So what happened at the hands of someone else, my past failures and my sins…I’m cool with it. The price was already paid.