Remember This When You Are Haunted by Your Past Sins
Recently while driving, I was thinking about my life and some things that were going on. During the drive, somehow my reflections brought me back to some of the poor decisions I had made in my life. I know these are decisions I cannot change, and I know these are sins I have repented of. However, when I thought about them, the level of shame and remorse hit me again. It was as if I was back in that place where I had just committed them. In that moment, I felt as if I had not been forgiven. I could not help but feel the need to repent, even though these sins were forgiven and repentance was unnecessary.
I share this with you, wondering and hoping you can relate to my experience. For many of us, we find it difficult to get beyond our past sins, even when we have confessed them and repented. We tend to remember and dwell on the sins and failures of the past. In addition, Satan loves to bring them to your remembrance as well.
So, what should you do if your past sins ever haunt you? If and when that happens, here are some key truths that you must remind yourself of.
You Are Forgiven
When you get overrun with guilt or remorse, then you can sometimes question whether God has forgiven you. That’s why God’s word and his promises are so important. All the things you need to remember will come from God’s word and God’s promises. Here is one important verse to remember.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
You may have heard this verse before, but I must highlight some eternal truths that you cannot ignore. The most important one is that God is faithful and just. Faithful means you can trust God to do what he says he will do. Just means he is true to his own nature. Since God will forever be true to his promise, if he says if you confess, he will forgive, then that is exactly what he will do. This means if you have confessed your sins, he has forgiven you. Not because of you, but because of his character.
Satan and Your Mind Will Try to Counterattack
Satan will try to convince you that God has not forgiven you. He may even try to sell you on the idea that God will not forgive you and that he has no desire to forgive you. Sometimes we try to convince ourselves of this as well.
Always remember this. The sin God reveals is the sin God desires to forgive. If he has made you aware of it, then he wants to help you deal with it.
When you believe you are beyond God’s forgiveness, it destroys your fellowship with God. That’s why this truth of God being faithful and just must sink deep into your heart. If you have confessed your sins, you can be confident God has forgiven you. Not because of who you are, but because of who he is. He forgives the one who confesses. If your past sins try to haunt you, refer to the promise.
Have you confessed your sin? If the answer is yes, then because God is faithful and just you can be confident that he has forgiven your sins.
You Are Cleansed and Restored
Another thing to remember is that God does not just forgive you, he also cleanses you. The purpose of cleansing is to remove all the impurities and restore you to a purified state. When God forgives, he washes you and wipes the slate clean. Every time you confess your sins, God forgives, but he also brings with it restoration. If he stopped there, that would be enough, but he goes even further. When God cleanses and restores, three things happen.
- He no longer remembers your sin
- He does not hold your sin against you
- He will never remind you of your sin again
If you don’t recognize this to be true, then your fellowship with God will remain broken. This will keep you trapped in your past sin, repeatedly reliving what you have done. This will not drive you towards God, it will push you away from him. So many people have broken walks with God because they don’t realize they have been forgiven and cleansed. If you have confessed, you are forgiven, cleansed, and restored. What you must do is believe that what God says is true and live in this truth.
You Have an Advocate
As glorious as it is to be forgiven, cleansed, and restored, there is another reason to have confidence in God’s promise. When you grasp this truth, it will go a long way in helping you should you ever be haunted by your past sins. You have an advocate.
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).
This word advocate comes from the Greek word paraclete. This word means someone who pleads a case on your behalf or who helps by defending them. Guess who is pleading your case for you? Jesus. Every time you confess your sin, Jesus pleads your case before the Father. Since you are confessing your sin, then on what grounds is Christ pleading for your forgiveness? The evidence he submits for your forgiveness is his broken body and shed blood. The sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for your sin and mine is all the evidence the Father needs to offer us forgiveness.
Another Benefit of an Advocate
I am a fan of legal shows. The courtroom drama of attorneys attempting to win their case for their clients is fascinating to me. Within the legal process, when you hire an attorney, that means you are represented by counsel. The attorney then has the legal right to argue your case before the court on your behalf. This also means that the opposing attorney cannot address you without getting permission from your attorney first. If they try to speak to you, you can simply let them know you are represented by counsel.
When it comes to your confessed sins, Jesus is your counsel. I mentioned earlier, Satan will try to convince you God will not forgive. However, whenever he tries to whisper these thoughts into your head, he is violating the legal process because you are represented by counsel. When Satan tries this, you can stop him and direct him to Jesus, letting him know you are represented by counsel. Jesus speaks for you and pleads for you and Satan knows he cannot get past the shed blood of Jesus.
The next time your past sins try to haunt you, remember God is faithful and just. He has forgiven you, cleansed you, and restored you. Last, you are represented by counsel and Jesus has never lost a case that he has pleaded before the Father.
“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Bulat Silvia
Originally published February 18, 2025.
