Your Past Does Not Predict Who You Can Become
For eight weeks, New Life has said it over and over: if there is breath in your lungs, there is still hope. To close the series While I Breathe, I Hope, Pastor CJ Ward set aside the usual opening story and simply talked to the church about one sentence, the thing the whole series had been building toward: your past does not predict who you can become. Jesus does.
“I don’t know your past,” CJ said, “but I do know Jesus.” Whatever is in your past, whatever you are carrying today, whatever you hoped nobody would ask you about, it does not get the final word on your future. Jesus does, and he is the only one who does.
The Ceiling on Our Growth
After almost 15 years of ministry, CJ is convinced that the biggest thing standing between us and transformation usually is not a sin, a struggle or something from our past. It is that most of us do not believe we will ever change.
This is not a positive-thinking sermon. Psychologists talk about “self-efficacy,” the idea that believing you can do something makes you more likely to do it. That can help with habits. But Scripture is clear that our hearts need more than a better attitude: “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9, NLT), and “everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23, NLT). With enough discipline we might trade a destructive habit for a less destructive one, or get better at not blowing up at our kids. We cannot change the heart that produces the anger in the first place.
So we settle. Every marriage in the family fell apart, so we assume ours will too. Mom, grandpa and an older sister all struggled with alcohol, and after a few failed attempts to quit, we decide, “This is just who I am.” We have always been angry, always been lonely, always been the one who misses out. And then we quit praying for anything different. As CJ put it, we stop believing anything will change, “and then it’s never different.”
The Accuser and the Creator
In Hebrew, “satan” is not a name but a title: the accuser. He repeats the same message until we believe it: look how many times you’ve messed up, you’re never going to kick it, that’s just who you are. Jesus says something different. Jesus offers transformation.
Romans 12: The Hinge from Belief to Behavior
The book of Romans swings on Romans 12:1-2. Chapters 1 through 11 teach what we believe about God, ourselves and the world. From chapter 12 on, Paul shows how that belief shapes how we live.
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2, NLT)
CJ’s free Bible-study tip: whenever you see “therefore,” ask what it is there for. We offer ourselves to God because of everything Romans has already said:
- “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8, NLT)
- “As people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.” (Romans 5:20, NLT)
- “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, NLT)
- “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28, NLT)
An Unblemished Sacrifice
Here is the catch. Every acceptable sacrifice in the Old Testament had to be without blemish. And we know our blemishes better than anyone. CJ quoted a pastor who said most people do not need to be convinced they are sinners; they need to be convinced they are lovable. Most of us do not wake up saying “I am perfect.” We wake up hoping nobody finds out. It goes all the way back to Adam and Eve hiding in the garden.
So how can we offer ourselves to God? Because God knew every sin and every regret before Jesus went to the cross, and he died for us anyway. Jesus took the full weight of sin on himself. Our sin, shame and guilt went into the grave with him, and only Jesus came out. He takes our guilt and gives us his righteousness.
When God looks at you, he does not see your sin. He sees the righteousness of his Son. He does not see your past; he sees you covered in Jesus and who you can become through the power of the Holy Spirit. We come to God saying, “You know all my faults,” and he says, “Not anymore.” “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12, NLT).
When we say, “I’m not leadership material,” God says, “I made your material.” When we say, “I’ll never have a healthy marriage,” God says, “I invented marriage. Quit believing them, start believing me.”
Break the Cycle
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world.” The world keeps repeating the same cycles: addiction, divorce, abuse and absence passed down generation after generation. Instead, let God transform you by changing the way you think. In CJ’s words, quit believing the lies of the accuser and start believing the truth of the Creator.
Until we take Jesus more seriously than our past, our sin or the world, we will not experience transformation. When we tell God “you couldn’t change me,” CJ said, we are putting more weight on our sin than on his Son.
The church then watched the stories of people whose lives Jesus interrupted and redeemed, and CJ invited people to stand: those called to ministry, those called to lead, those ready to break a generational cycle (“the cycle breaks here”), and those ready for God to change something they could not yet name. Then the whole room prayed together, and some prayed to follow Jesus for the first time. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39). That hope is permanent.
Next Steps After Your Past Does Not Predict Who You Can Become
If your past does not predict who you can become, the next step is to start living like it:
- Said yes to Jesus? Tell us. Fill out an “I’ve decided to follow Jesus” Form.
- Sensing a call to lead or to ministry? Start by serving: serve.newlifegillette.com. If God is calling you into ministry as your work, fill out the ministry-calling form.
- Take a step of faith. If you’re ready to follow Jesus publicly,
- Find people who can walk with you. Accountability starts with community.
- Read “Becoming,” Chapter 8. A book we printed called Becoming has a chapter dedicated to Becoming. Pick up a copy at the Purchase Project (free if you can’t afford one) or listen on Spotify.
Did you like the message, Your Past Does Not Predict Who You Can Become? If so, check out more of our Sunday teachings here.