Future's Past

I read this story about a man who died and went to heaven. When he got there, he was so surprised not by what he saw but with who he saw. He saw a lot of people he knew to be sinners, bullies, cheaters, people who does not deserve to be in heaven. He also noticed that they were all standing silently as they passed by. When he asked Jesus why they were silent, Jesus replied “They are shocked to see you here”.

People, me included, usually look at what others have done wrong rather than what they have done right. We tend to identify them with that simple mistakes they did and this will serve as their mark for the rest of their lives. And when the time comes when that man does or say something good, we doubt his intentions or worse, we just don’t believe in him because he is already marked.

I find this both funny and sad because no matter how often we make mistakes or how often we commit sin, God is always ready to take us back. He is always ready to forgive us our sins if we repent. So what makes us so special that we cannot forgive others or forget what they did in the past? Are we greater than God?

We are all sinners, everybody makes mistakes, and we all fall down sometimes. But at the end of the day, what really matters is how we got up and correct our mistakes. Jesus came to redeem us from our sins. He gave hope to all of us sinners. He is the way to our Father in heaven. Let us follow Him and pray that our sins may also be forgiven.

 “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future”