What to Do When You’re Embarrassed of Your Past

You know God forgave what you did, and you still cringe at the person who did it. Learn where Isaiah 1:18 falls in the chapter, and why God picked the two stains everybody knew were permanent. A lot of Christians have pockets of embarrassment about who they used to be. Decisions you'd never make now, or a choice you look back at and wince about. Here's what's confusing about it. You may be completely settled with God about what you did. You've confessed it. You believe He forgave it, and the guilt is gone. The embarrassment is a different animal. Guilt is about the act. Embarrassment is about the person who did it, which means forgiveness can be fully applied to the deed and you'll still cringe at the self. This episode opens with Andrea, who spent her freshman year of college partying more than studying. Years later she could live with the bad transcript. What stayed with her was the girl she'd been that year, and every time the memory came up she'd wince. She had changed years earlier, and she just hadn't stopped punishing herself for who she used to be. Isaiah has a verse for this, and where it falls in the chapter is half the point. Isaiah 1:18 reads, "Come now, let's settle this," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow." Isaiah 1 is built as a courtroom. God calls heaven and earth as witnesses in verse 2, then brings the charges without softening one of them. By verse 15 He tells them their hands are covered with blood. So the offer in verse 18 arrives after a complete indictment, and God never minimizes a thing on His way to it. Then look at what He proposes. Come now, let's settle this. The Hebrew is a legal word for arguing a case all the way to its conclusion, which is why older translations give it as let us reason together. God is offering to close the file. And look at the colors He picked. Scarlet and crimson came from an insect, and they were the most colorfast dyes in the ancient world. People in that room knew those stains did not come out of cloth. God picks the two permanent ones on purpose, and He offers back the color the wool was before anybody dyed it. Here's what settles the embarrassment. A settled case stays settled. God isn't holding the file open waiting on you to feel worse about it first, and verses 19 and 20 lay out the terms, so there's a cost on your side of it. He closed it. Which means every time you replay that memory and wince, you're relitigating a case that was settled years ago. You're the only party still arguing it. So quit arguing the closed case. When the memory comes back, you don't have to review the evidence again. And let the memory be evidence of the settlement, because that kid in your head is proof of something God did. Bart shares his own version of this, his own freshman year and the 7:30 class he kept missing while his books stayed in his room. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER: Why embarrassment outlives guilt, even after you know you're forgiven What the Hebrew behind "let's settle this" says about a closed file Why God chose scarlet and crimson out of all the colors available Who you were isn't who you are. God has moved on from it, and He's inviting you to as well. **Share This Episode:** https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/353 **Need Prayer? Leave me a voicemail:** https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/voicemail **Want to keep these devotions coming? Please consider supporting this podcast.** https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/support/ **Rate and Review** https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/reviews/new/ **Connect with Bart** Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/dailydevotionsforbusyliveshttps://www.facebook.com/dailydevotionsforbusylives Website:https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com Feeling spiritually drained? Start here. Download your free copy of my eBook *Making Time for Jesus*https://daily-devotions-for-busy-lives.kit.com/b33aa395d1here: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/subscribe.