If you read anything on social media, you know we are living in what is being called a “Cancel Culture.” That means no matter what you are doing now if you said or did something inappropriate in the past, you are canceled. Your current actions mean nothing because of your past failures.

My prayer is that this thinking will not infiltrate the Church and in the believers who gather each week. I will be honest; if you were to start digging into my past, I am sure you will find a few skeletons in the closest. I tested the boundaries of grace in both High School and college. I have done things of which I am not proud. My sins are many, my mistakes are plentiful, and my failures abound.

The good news is that Jesus’ work on the cross produces a different type of cancel culture. He came to cancel the debt of sin that each one of us owes. It is theologically called “Substitutionary Atonement.” Jesus died in our place on the cross, and our past has been handled. Our sins are gone, grace replaces our mistakes, and we can let go of our failures.

Trusting Jesus as your Savior cancels your past, and your present is all that matters. In a world that is using our history to nullify us today. Jesus nullifies our past so that we can live free today.