God got Israel out of Egypt in one day, but it took forty years to get the shame of Egypt out of Israel. It happened at a place called Gilgal, 381 miles north-east of Egypt. The Israelites thought like slaves and acted like slaves. After all, it’s tough to break the cycle after four hundred years of slavery. Technically, the Israelites were set free at the exodus. But it wasn’t until they reached Gilgal that they finally left the past in the past. ‘Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.”’ For some of us, it takes years to bring closure to our feelings of condemnation and get the past out of the present. The good news is, God can still roll away the shame of your past. ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1 NKJV). Note the word ‘now’. Full forgiveness is our present-tense reality. Right here. Right now. If you are in Christ, you’re no longer defined by what you’ve done wrong; you’re defined by what Christ has done right on your behalf. You are a new creation, but sometimes it takes time for your new nature to become second nature. Jesus came to put the past in its place – in the past. You need to leave it there. How do you do that? By seeing yourself as God sees you – righteous (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). Instead of seeing yourself as clothed in shame, begin to see yourself as God sees you: clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.