The hope of the gospel can help you put the right interpretation on your past and make it a good thing for you. This is what will help you get past your past.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
When reminders of your past invade, don’t question your kingdom usefulness. That is Satan’s ploy to derail you. Instead, thank God for His commitment to work through your folly to make you more sensitive to fellow sinners. Ask Him to open doors of relational ministry and to give you the wisdom and courage…to testify of His life-changing grace in your life.
God does not want to remove your memories; he wants to redeem them. He wants to transform them into something good, something that will make you more like Jesus. Do you see the hope this offers Christians? Your bad memories of your past sins – even the worst ones – can be opportunities for life-changing growth. You do not need to avoid, run from, cover over, or get rid of your past. You can reinterpret it God’s way. God’s goal is neither memory erasure nor memory denial, but memory redemption.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
When [we] view our past through a Christ-centered, gospel lens, [our] lives are characterized by a deepening repentance, heightened gratitude, and broader effectiveness in helping others.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
When we let our past memories springboard us to higher views of God’s grace, it energizes our praise and solidifies our Christian confidence.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.
Church-based counseling is not consigned to the kind of finger-tapping approach that simply waits for the counselee to “come around.” Christ’s agenda for His people is much broader than that. Though much biblical counseling is reactive, we are not mainly to be responders but pursuers, like Jesus.
Counseling the Hard Cases, Edited by Stuart Scott and Health Lambert, B&H Publishing, 2012, p. 279, Used by Permission.
Most counseling problems reflect a distorted view of God and a deficient relationship with Christ.
Counseling the Hard Cases, Edited by Stuart Scott and Health Lambert, B&H Publishing, 2012, p. 260, Used by Permission.
Factors that typically contribute to sexual problems: selfishness, resentment [and] ungodly communication.
Counseling the Hard Cases, Edited by Stuart Scott and Health Lambert, B&H Publishing, 2012, p. 279, Used by Permission.
Psychiatric medications are not the answer; however, they may be useful for a limited time and limited purpose. Biblical counseling provides answers that psychiatric medications cannot. At best, medication can stabilize a person’s mind and mood for a season, but it cannot change the person.
Counseling the Hard Cases, Edited by Stuart Scott and Health Lambert, B&H Publishing, 2012, p. 283, Used by Permission.
All biblical counseling that is faithful to the Scriptures will recognize the vital role played by the church in the life of a Christian counselee (see Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12-14; Eph. 4:1-16; 1 Thes. 4:9-10; 5:12-15; Heb. 3:12-14). People entangled in severe sins tend to isolate themselves for a variety of reasons. They are in love with their sin, ashamed of their sin, too proud to let others know, too self-sufficient to let others in, lack a true desire to change, believe they can beat their problems on their own, or don’t want to inconvenience their friends with their long-term problems that defy simple solutions.
Counseling the Hard Cases, Edited by Stuart Scott and Health Lambert, B&H Publishing, 2012, p. 284, Used by Permission.
There is no contradiction between a present enjoyment of justification and a proper sense of shame about past sin. Both mark the maturing Christian.
Properly remembering our past sins with shame will deter us from repeating them and help us receive God’s saving grace. When we recall our failures through the lens of Christ’s mercy, God produces in us ongoing repentance and deepening humility.
Your Redeemer is bigger than your past.
Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, P&R Publishing, 2004. Used by Permission.