Don’t Let Your Past Define Your Future
When John Travolta has a new part in a movie, he said he starts with the walk. All his characters have a different walk and that helps him find his new personality for the movie.
When Jacob was a young man, he was a fraud, a scam artist, and a con. When he finally humbled himself and confessed his sin one night, God gave him a new identity, blessed him, and gave him a new walk.
Genesis 32:24-31
24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”27 “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” 31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.
God said, I know you have been a con man Jacob, but I see past all your protective behavior, and I see a leader, a man of God. Then He blessed him and dislocated his hip to remind him to always depend on the Lord.
If we want God’s blessing then we need to humble ourselves, confess our sin to the Lord, and know that our true identity is found in how God sees us, not how we see yourselves. This will change what we value and the decisions we make.
2 Corinthians 5:17
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
We don’t have to be who we were. Our old sins don’t have to define who we are today. If you are in Christ, you have a new identity, a new hope, and a new walk.