Before the man died, he was a very wicked man, involved in sorcery and witchcraft. While struggling between death and life, the Doctor tried to convince him to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. The dying old man responded that it was impossible for God to forgive him because according to him, he had been instrumental to many business failures, deaths, barrenness and miscarriages. To him if God could forgive others, his was too much and God will be extremely too benevolent to forgive him. I have had opportunity to ask some young people why they continue living in sexual immorality despite repeated sermons and appeals to avoid the shameful ways. Their respond has always been that they felt they have disappointed God and therefore are incapable of becoming Christians again. I remember one of them said, “Since I am already in it and I feel too ashamed to come back to God, there is no other option than to continue to live in sin. I am already down so let me remain here.” Our present and past lives can become a strong barrier to prevent us from quitting a life of sexual immorality. Bob Gass in his book, “Forgetting Your Past,” wrote that Psychologists estimate that we spend up to 50 percent of our mental and emotional energy repressing painful memories. People may make mockery of your past but remember that God does not count wrong as long as you have made up your mind to be repentant and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Another factor that discourages people from quitting a bad life style is the boasting of others who claim they have never done such all their lives. There are people who claim that because they were virgins till they got married that those who were not but rather lived a lose life have woefully failed and can never make it in life. This position is unfair to others and might discourage them in their “he that is down needs fear no fall philosophy.” We also have people who make such boasts in the field of academia. They boast they never failed a course or repeated a class. Some also boast that they made a first class as if others who made lower grades are not fit to be in the academic world. In as much as excellence should be praised, we should be careful to make sure that our presentation of academic and moral successes does not discourage others, who due to certain factors not completely of their making, from rising above board. Most men and women who did exploits in the Bible were people who were down the moral ladder of life; -such men and women as Jephthah, Manasseh, and Rehab the prostitute.
The Bible clearly says, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!” “Come now, let’s settle this, “says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” (Psalm 32:1, 2. Isaiah 1:18). 1Timothy 1:15-17 says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”and I am the worst of them. But I received mercy because of this, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate the utmost patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life. (HCSB). Venerable Akajiaku Chukwuocha in his book, “The War Within,” writes: “The devil will try to convince you that you are worthless and that it is not even worth trying to break free of an entangling sin. Each time you struggle, or feel you are not progressing as fast as you would like, he will redouble his attacks. But all besetting sins can be uprooted by sincere love. Once you come to realize the problem, and recognize that there is One who is all powerful to help, you are in a position to start breaking free of this bondage. This deliverance may be slow, but your freedom will grow as you find the courage to allow Jesus into the innermost recess of your mind and emotions and allow Him to rummage through all the secrets hidden there.”
Supposing people keep taunting you of your sinful past, what are you supposed to do? Where do you run to for solace? The word of God is our solace, it is our anchor when men try to taunt us and force misery on us: If your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy, I would have died in my misery. (Ps 119:92 NLT). The Bible urges us to “Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.” (2 Tim 2:22. NLT). Besides if this taunt continues try to remind yourself that your body is no longer an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, that you are now completely God’s own, for you were dead, but now you have new life. Your whole body is now as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. Romans 6:13,14NLT). Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (1 Cor. 5:17). Don’t allow the devil to hold you down with a sinful past. Bob Gass speaking of the Apostle Paul wrote that Paul understood the forgetting and reaching are the keys to inner healing. One will not work without the other. Forgetting closes the door on the past; reaching opens the door to the future. Paul had a lot to forget. He supervised the murder of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Paul testified that he persecuted the church and “wasted it.” (Galatians 1:13 KJV). “While Christians slept Saul of Tarsus and his zealots will break down their door, and, oblivious to the cries of children, take some parents to prison and others to the chopping block. But now he goes back to those same towns to preach and when he stands in the pulpit, guess who’s sitting in the pews? The widows! The orphans!”
