History is one of the things that we all have in common. I have it, you have it, your neighbor has it, and every person you will ever meet has it. Some of our history we remember clearly and even with pride. We want to share it and retell it --- and, like the proverbial story of the fish that got away --- some of our history accounts grow in their embellishment with each retelling. There are also those other parts of our history that we would rather bury deep in the backyards of our lives and leave no marker to identify it.

Too often we judge people by our knowledge of their history with us. If we have had conflict in the past we approach them in the present with reservations and even anticipation of more of the same. That is an entirely human reaction that most of us have done a time or two in our lives – and maybe also have been on the receiving end of such judgement by someone else.

What has always truly amazed me is that God completely disregards our history with Him. That is what the Cross that Christ died on is all about. I John 1:7 describes the process with these words:

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (NIV)

In Jesus’ sacrifice in my place God has washed all of my history of sin away! It is not just covered up by the blood of Jesus. If that were so then it would still be there. Haven’t you watched enough CSI shows on television where, even though the criminal uses all kinds of ways to conceal the evidence at a crime scene, the investigators always find it. But it says “the blood of Jesus, his Son, PURIFIES US from all sin.” The word “purifies” means to have all of the contaminants removed. That is what I am so in awe about in my life – what about you?