2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
In the spirit, when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we become a completely new creation that never existed before. This truth is clearly revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. So what am I saying? I am not saying that because we are born-again that we can now walk away from our previous life in the natural, for scripture plainly tells us to remain in the same calling in which we are called (1 Corinthians 7:20). What I am saying is that one should not dwell in the past. In other words believers should talk as little as possible about their lives before they were saved (unless it forms part of their testimony when witnessing to others). In a similar manner believers should think as little as possible about their lives before they were saved. Jesus said it this way, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62). And so why dwell on that which God Himself no longer acknowledges.
Colossians 2:13-14 “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, (14) having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
On their day of judgement, believers will not be held to account for anything done before they were saved, no matter how sinful and wicked a life they may have led, for as revealed to us in the passage of scripture quoted above, everything has been wiped out by nailing it to the cross. But equally, believers will also not be rewarded for any supposedly good deed done before they were saved, for God declares that the “righteous” works of those in the world are counted as filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah 64:6). And so the point is very clear in scripture, i.e. nothing done before we were saved is recorded in heaven and will not therefore form part of the saint’s judgement.
Michael E.B. Maher
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