Walking with Jesus

WHEN we start to relate to Christ not just as a historical figure or a religious idea but as our personal reality, we have become a new creation. It says in the Bible that the old has gone and the new has come (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). This raises the question, though, what has happened to our past? Does our history, family, upbringing, culture and past trauma just disappear?

Therapist and author Andre Ramall writes: For many years, I thought the answer to this question was yes. I was taught that all my old ways of thinking, all my bad habits, my fears and my worries were now a thing of the past. All I needed was Christ. Like a pantomime joke, ‘Where’s my past?’ ‘Behind you!’

The only problem was that I was still massively influenced by my upbringing and past trauma. No amount of praying, reading the Bible and trying harder made any difference to my anxieties and low self-esteem. So my past was still very much with me.

But the Bible says my life is hidden in Christ. How do we make sense of this?

Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen

I now believe that this verse is not asking us to deny our past or pretend it never happened. This kind of denial can lead to a lot of psychological problems. If bad stuff has happened, that has to be acknowledged. The effects may still be playing out. For instance, the self I developed in reaction to my history, the defences and self-sufficient ways of coping and defending myself from further hurt, needed to be surrendered.

We are not equipped to run our lives on our own, and walking with Jesus means surrendering ourselves to Christ. This doesn’t eradicate our identity, as some seem to teach. It means that Christ now shines through the cracks in our history and redeems all the pain and trauma in our unique and Christ-shaped selves.

Being in Christ enables us to relate to our past with compassion, to grieve what needs to be grieved, to forgive what needs to be forgiven, to make peace with our own history.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3 New International Version).

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