We humans gravitate towards identifying ourselves with the worst things about us. One of my favorite things about life with Jesus – life to the full! – is that in Him the truest thing about me is not the worst thing about me. The truest thing about me is that I am a new creation. I have been redeemed, and I am loved beyond my imagination.


For years I viewed myself through the lens of the failures and mistakes of old relationships. I let those regrets define me for a long time when what ought to have defined me was the love Christ has for me. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3), the Lord tells me.


If you are following Jesus, He says the very same to you. With our identities bound up in being adopted children of the King of heaven, we get to live free of the guilt or condemnation of the past. We can leave it all behind, looking ahead to a new world in Christ. With Him we not only live free of the past, but we can live life
abundantly now.