“What we become is more important than where we’re from” (seen on a church sign).

People can get so caught up in their past and become a prisoner to it. So many lives are defined by regret and bitterness. So many can’t move forward because they’re still stuck in the same place where they received their wounds that won’t heal. So many have been the victim for so long that they don’t know how to be anything else.

But God is telling a different story.

As I’ve mentioned before, God can take the worst moment of your life that you swore you’d never tell anyone about and make it the opening line of your testimony (with much love and thanks to Uncle Mikey for that one). With God, your past with all its mistakes and carnage now serves a purpose instead of serving shame.

At one point, the Bible gives a long laundry list of sins and says that the people who based their identity on these sins won’t inherit the Kingdom of God. Then comes one of the best lines in the Bible: AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU.

In other words, that’s who you were but not who you are now. That’s no longer what defines you or gives your life meaning. For those in Christ, you are no longer an alcoholic or an adulterer or a homosexual or a thief or any of those things. You are now a son of God or a daughter of God.

Now who you are becoming is more important than where you’re from. God in Jesus is making you into His image, taking away your heart of stone and giving you a heart of flesh. He’s taking away your sinful desires and giving you a passion for pleasing Christ in all you do. He’s making you into the person He created you to be and you are finally becoming your truest self rather than a carbon copy of everyone else or a slave to your addictions and desires.

So remember that. What we become is more important than where we’re from. The story ain’t over, folks. It’s about to get really good.