I’m going to say something, that while it’s not true, many of us believe: our past limits God.

For whatever reason in Christianity we have this unwritten assumption that God does his best work with perfect people. That people who have failed less than us, made better choices than us, who are closer than God to us – have more potential than us. And while we might not ever say it that bluntly we assume that God would rather use someone who didn’t have that messy past: that affair, that moral breakdown, impulsive decision, lack of courage, whatever.

The point is that we think that somehow the wrong and regretful decisions we have made limit what God can do in and through us.

That’s the assumption I really want to honestly examine on Sunday. Does our past really limit God? Is our past something we need to overcome to be able to be useful to God?

What I think we’ll discover is something really unique, shocking, and subversive. God wants to use us, because of past not in spite of it.

But before we get there on Sunday why not spend some time honestly reflecting on your life. Are there encounters, decisions, or things that have happened to you that you feel disqualify you or limit your future? Does anything from your past have a hold on what could happen? Does that relational blowup, decision to dropout, moral failure, wrong choice, or just missed opportunity still determine some of what you believe God can do in and through you?

If so, simply start to recognize the places and things that you believe might limit God’s working in and through you. Bring them with you on Sunday, and we’ll see what God might do with them. I’ll give you a hint: even though it seems impossible…God can transform our pasts into a new future.