Buying Back the Past

  [305 words] Oscar Wilde once put forth this thought-provoking observation: “No man is rich enough to buy back his past.” To a large degree, Wilde was right. Even Paul, that matchless apostle of New Testament days, was haunted by acrid memories of a wasted and misdirected youth, a time when he had worked feverishly against the Lord and His church. In his younger, pre-conversion days, Paul, then known as Saul, had been a willing accomplice in an innocent man’s death. (Acts 7:58-8:1.) Paul’s words in passages such as 1 Corinthians 15:9 reflect the mind of one whose past had been fully forgiven by God but not at all forgotten by self. We all desperately desire to leave the sins of the past behind us. Thankfully, God is more than willing to forgive. As We deal with our sins according to His divine will, our sins are forgiven and remembered…