By Rev. Dr. Chris Surber

Do we sometimes not confess past wrongdoing and sin because we are afraid it takes away all the value of a past time in our life?

I hear a lot of these phrases from people: “I don’t regret my past life. It makes me who I am. I won’t admit that how I lived was wrong. I just needed to get all of that out of my system.”

Justifying past sin in this way won’t make it right or make it go away, and repenting over a part of my past doesn’t negate all the value of my past.

Consider my friend Sammy Nagging Feeling. Today Sammy has a great life. He lives in a nice old country home with his pickle-canning country wife, three tick-ridden country dogs, and two straw-hat wearing country kids. He has a real country-tastic life.

But Sammy hasn’t always lived a picturesque, all-American life. He used to live in a large city. He lived a large city life. He wasn’t a bad person. He was kind. He was generous. He just had a wild side. He got into too much drinking and ended up married to a wild woman who didn’t share the basic values with which he was raised.

After a year of terrible marriage his wife had an abortion. Sammy divorced his wife and moved out to the country. He lives a new life now, but he has never dealt with feelings of regret and guilt over the life he once lived.

When the guilt crosses his mind, he reminds himself he has always been a good person. His life wasn’t all bad, and in his mind he can’t separate the good from the bad parts.

A lot of people live with regret. The difference between the person who finds freedom from past sin and the person who doesn’t is the willingness to confess it and seek healing from God, which He freely offers through Jesus.

Even if a person keeps up a good appearance on the outside, unconfessed sin is like acid, eating away on the inside.

To admit past sin doesn’t negate the good in one’s past. It just allows us to find freedom from the sin, to heal the broken parts. God’s compassion abounds in our brokenness.

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” (Psalms 34:18 NLT)

Confessing past sin is a way to reconciliation with God and a real sense of freedom within. It may even open the door to healing a present relationship or situation in our lives.

Admitting that a part of our past was sinful doesn’t negate the fact that a lot of the same past may have been very good. Real people aren’t villains or superheroes. We’re just people.

Regret over past mistakes and sin is a lot like mold. You can’t kill it by pretending it isn’t there and covering it. You’ve got to treat it with the forgiveness of God and expose it to the light of honesty and truth.