Wiped Clean

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Wiped Clean.

I just heard the story of a 60-year-old woman, who after a bout with viral encephalitis, lost her memory, never to receive it back. She didn’t know her husband of 45 years, nor her children. She didn’t remember anything from the past. She simply had to learn to trust and love those who were such an integral part of her life before. Her personality also changed, as she transformed from an introvert to an outspoken extrovert. She was not the woman she was before the illness.

But it’s a beautiful thing to see this now vibrant woman and her husband hold hands one year later. He has learned to unconditionally love the new woman in his life. She has embraced the family she neither remembered nor recognized.

While this scenario has not been without difficult hurdles, it reminded me of what it’s like when we give our lives to Jesus.

God’s memory is wiped clean.

He forgets our past life, no matter what sins we committed, and doesn’t bring them up again. If we ever feel guilt about our old behavior, the enemy of our souls is reminding us, not God.

That doesn’t mean we can continue on with the same bad habits and sinful acts.

One day Jesus came across a violent scene. Pharisees, with rocks in hand, were ready to stone a woman caught in adultery. He saved the damsel in distress by challenging the Pharisees with the statement, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And as the woman’s accusers walked away, his parting words to the adulterous woman were, “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:7). Her past was wiped clean, but knowing what was expected by Jesus, she could not return to her old ways.

Past sexual sin-Wiped Clean.

Angry words-Wiped Clean.

Betrayal-Wiped Clean.

Unfaithfulness-Wiped Clean.

Addictions-Wiped Clean.

What has been wiped clean in your life but you keep going back, either in your mind or in your actions?

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, he forgets our past failures. We are wiped clean so he can fill us with his presence, his glory and his goodness.

Are you still plagued by memories of your old life?

Have you not received God’s forgiveness?

Then today is the day to wash away the old and become a clean vessel so that God’s glory, love and his faithfulness can shine through you.