Letting Go of Past Mistakes

By Alexandra Copeland

No one wants to make the same mistakes twice, right? Mistakes are costly, because the truth is that they can hinder us on our Christian journeys. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, some of the mistakes that many of us make today are a result of baggage that we’ve been carrying a very long time. We may have made a mistake years ago, and the consequences we experienced as a result of this mistake were very troublesome. The hurt of it brought up some things within us that we didn’t know were there, and because the sting was so painful, we chose not to deal with the root cause, but to move beyond the pain as quickly as possible. This is a natural response, but it is hardly ever the best approach.  

Many people are walking around today with such deep sadness, and some of it is attributable to the fact that they are still mourning over the outcome from mistakes they made in the past. Many years ago, I endured a very painful breakup in a relationship that I deeply believed would end in a marriage proposal. The man was witty, smart, handsome, and extremely affable; everyone loved him. I was young and naïve, and without much thought, I allowed myself to become very emotionally invested without guarding my heart the way God instructs us to do. I had known him for quite some time, and he had become my confidant and friend. I trusted him and leaped without caution. The end result was a heart so shattered that I literally could not function for weeks.  

I mourned the loss of this relationship miserably, because it cut so deep. It took me quite a long time to snap out of it. We were not right for each other at all, and when there was finally some distance between me and the end of this relationship, I realized this. I also recognized that I had made many errors, the first of which was to mourn way too long. Deuteronomy 34:8(NLT) tells us a little bit about a custom of those living in Old Testament times. This verse says, “The people of Israel mourned for Moses on the plains of Moab for thirty days, until the customary period of mourning was over.” They had a customary period of thirty days to mourn a loss; that’s it! We would never suggest to anyone how long they should mourn, because some losses are very great, but when it comes to the mistakes we make in life, we would do well to learn a little bit from the wisdom of this custom. 

After the death of Moses, God appointed Joshua to lead the people of Israel. Joshua 1:1-3(NLT) tells us, “After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3 I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you.” Moses had been a great leader. He was God’s man, but his life was over and the people of Israel could not remain paralyzed by grief. The plan of God needed to move forward. Joshua and the children of Israel had to pull themselves together and recognize that God was their provision. He had taken care of Moses, and reminded them that they were still alive and had work to do.  

When we don’t see the truth of who we are in Christ and how consequential we are to the Kingdom of God, we will allow ourselves to become stagnant, lackadaisical, and stuck in the past. We will not accept the responsibility to get up and keep ourselves motivated to press forward on the race we’ve been called to run. Instead, we let the enemy convince us to stay down, and not rise to the level of blessing, action, and vitality that God has empowered us to walk in. Don’t let this happen to you! Just don’t do it! You are greater than your past mistakes, and God’s plan for your life dictates that your latter days will be better than the former ones. 

We cannot change the past. It’s gone and we will never see that time again. It is lost forever. Our Heavenly Father is a very present God. He’s in the right now, willing and able to help us make the most of where we are at this very moment. The problem is that we allow our hearts and minds to be consumed with what has already passed. An athlete cannot successfully run a race looking back. This is what we have to know. The Apostle Paul said it best in Philippians 3:12-13(NKJV), “12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” 

Paul acknowledged his flaws when he said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected.” We’re going to make mistakes because we’re human. We’re not perfected, but we’re being perfected in Christ as we figure out God’s way and will for our lives. Spiritual growth is a process, and when something doesn’t work for us, we can learn from it, release it, and begin to walk in God’s plan with greater strength and resolve.  

God assures us in Romans 8:28 that He causes all things to work together for our good. So we can be confident that when we’ve fallen off the path, we can reclaim our stamina and momentum on this Christian journey as we get with His program and get back on track.  

Stamina and momentum we can regain, but time is lost forever. Time is precious. Don’t waste it wallowing in the past, thinking about woulda, coulda, shoulda. You’ve got a race to run for Christ, and focusing on the past will slow you down. God wants you to be excited about your future and invigorated by your present. Wherever we are in life, through Christ we can begin again and the power and love of God can reposition us as if we’ve never lost a beat. You don’t need to hang on to the baggage of yesterday. Let go of past mistakes. Learn from them, repent, forgive yourself and others, and let them go. ■ 

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.