How Do I Let Go of My Past

A bad purchase sits around collecting dust mocking you, and everyone else sees it too. Sin is like that — we say or do something and keep replaying it in our minds, and others around us can see it. This man in Mark 5 is surrounded by dead things day and night: filled with demons, living in tombs, bound in chains, cutting himself with stones, with no one in the city wanting to be around him at all. He is literally everyone's problem except Jesus. Jesus does not require him to get himself together before helping him — He confronts what is destroying him. We don't know or need to know his past of how he got here; the Bible only focuses on his encounter with Jesus. Shame, guilt and regret are tools of the enemy. Grace, mercy and purpose are gifts from Jesus. Whatever you have done, or whatever has been done to you, you are not beyond the reach of Jesus. Like the Titanic, most people stayed on the sinking ship because they thought it could not sink, and lifeboats left way under capacity. The question is: will you take the grace and life Jesus is offering you or stay on your sinking ship?

The herdsmen ran and told the town, and the crowd rushed out to see. They saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting fully clothed and perfectly sane — and they were all afraid. Then they begged Jesus to leave. Redemption does not mean pretending the past never happened. It means the past no longer has the authority to condemn or shame you. You are a new creation through Jesus. The crowd sees the same man, but he is no longer in the same condition: sitting instead of wandering, clothed and not chained, and in his right mind having clear conversations. The Bible now describes his condition as past tense: the man who had been possessed. Other people may need time to recognize your change. Their memory of you does not determine who you are becoming in Christ. Letting go does not mean denying your past or avoiding responsibility. It means refusing to make your worst chapter your permanent identity.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with Him. But Jesus said, No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful He has been. So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him — and everyone was amazed. The man wants to leave with Jesus. Jesus sends him home, to people who know his history. The man started off separated and rejected by everyone. Then Jesus gave him somewhere to belong and something to do. Jesus gives us grace and mercy and a purpose. His assignment is not to make his past sound dramatic. It is to make God's mercy known. He becomes a walking lighthouse, showing and telling everyone about Jesus.