Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. Your past does not define you. In this moment you can own what has been, turn your gaze back toward God, and receive the grace of the One who knows you completely and forgives you completely.
What choices of forgiven acceptance are you making right now?
In this post:
- Every saint has a past
- Every sinner has a future
- Who is the perfect judge of you? (Psalm 139)
- Where are you: judgment or grace?
- Questions for reflection
The phrase comes from Oscar Wilde’s play A Woman of No Importance (full text on Project Gutenberg). It is spoken by Lord Illingworth, a self-serving and dishonourable man:
For Illingworth, saints are fools who have given up their pleasures, and sinners have plenty of pleasure still ahead of them. Sin freely, he implies, and don’t worry about the consequences.
I read it differently. To me it says: own your past, and choose your future in the present moment.
On my desk sits a glass coaster. Beneath the glass I have placed a simple message:
Every Saint Has a Past
What is a saint? Many of us picture someone exceptionally holy, pure and spotless before God.
But everyone, even the people we hold in the highest regard, has a past. Everyone has a shadow side and a story that hasn’t been told.
Look at the “saints” listed in the faith hall of fame in Hebrews 11. Among them are liars, a prostitute, murderers, adulterers and the arrogant. Scripture is honest about the flaws of the people God used:
- Jacob was a liar
- Peter had a temper
- David had an affair
- Noah got drunk
- Jonah ran from God
- Paul was complicit in murder
- Gideon was insecure
- Miriam was a gossip
- Martha was a worrier
- Thomas was a doubter
- Sarah was impatient
- Elijah was moody
- Moses had a stutter
- Zacchaeus was short
- Abraham was old
When we put people on a pedestal, we eventually discover they are human underneath. They make human decisions, and they fall short.
Every Sinner Has a Future
One of my favourite descriptions of sin comes from the French philosopher Simone Weil:
Sin can be a large misdirection of our gaze, or a small shift of attention away from God. It includes the hidden moments of arrogance and pride, not only the public sins that others see and condemn.
So “every sinner has a future” cuts two ways. There is always the opportunity to keep drifting, to keep shifting our attention away from God. And there is always the choice to turn back and keep our attention on Him.
In this present moment, you can refine your focus.
Who Is the Perfect Judge of You? Psalm 139
We judge ourselves and we judge others. Is this behaviour the mark of a sinner or a saint? Am I hitting the mark or falling short?
The real question is this: will you keep throwing stones at yourself, or will you receive God’s grace?
There is only one perfect judge of everything you do. And in Psalm 139 (The Message) the psalmist invites that Judge to investigate:
1-6 God, investigate my life;
get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
then up ahead and you’re there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can’t take it all in!
7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.
13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
all the men and women who belittle you, God,
infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!
23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life. Psalm 139
God searches us fully, and His investigation ends in forgiveness. Grace replaces the demand for justice. The One who knows everything about you forgives everything about you. To go deeper into this, read I am Known: the safety of being fully seen and loved by God.
Where Are You: Living in Judgment or Grace?
Are you harsh with yourself and with others? Is the judge’s gavel always coming down?
Do you live in a black-and-white world of verdicts, “guilty as found”, stuck in yesterday’s offence? Or do you live in acceptance, colour, grace and mercy, with a new day of opportunity in front of you?
I move between the two. But I want to live more in the colour and the light, because that is where hope lives.
A fresh new day is an invitation to be the best saint you can be in a broken world. You will stumble. And like the prodigal son in Luke 15, you will be welcomed home.
If shame keeps pulling you back to the courtroom, these may help: sitting with shame alongside a safe person and why absolute responsibility needs absolute forgiveness.
Quotes on Grace, Judgment and Forgiveness
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- “To understand all is to forgive all.” — Evelyn Waugh
- “Sinners often speak the truth. And saints have led people astray. Examine what is said, not the one who says it.” — Anthony de Mello
- “He condemned nothing in haste and without taking circumstances into account. He said, ‘Examine the road over which the fault has passed.'” — Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
- “Acceptance is not our mode nearly as much as aggression, resistance, fight, or flight. None of them achieve the deep and lasting results of true acceptance and peaceful surrender.” — Richard Rohr
- “God’s forgiveness toward me and my forgiveness toward another are like the voice and the echo.” — Dennis and Matthew Linn
- “What will others think?” is a symptom of a disease called “living our lives through other people’s eyes.” It’s time to get properly centred.” — David Riddell
Questions for Reflection
- How much do you live under other people’s judgment? (You may find Caged by the Opinions of Others helpful.)
- What verse in Psalm 139 speaks to you the most?
- “To understand all is to forgive all.” Do you know enough yet to forgive yourself and others? God does.
Further Reading on Forgiveness and Grace
- I am Known — Living behind a mask out of fear of rejection? Discover the life-changing safety of knowing you are fully seen and perfectly loved by God.
- Caged By the Opinions of Others — Trapped by the opinions of others? Discover how faith, scripture, and owning your struggle story can break the shackles of social anxiety.
- Don’t Let Me Be Put to Shame — Being put to shame makes us feel deeply flawed. Find out how to escape the pain of harsh comparisons and find a safe refuge of hope.
- Sitting with Shame — Shame tells you that you are a mistake. Discover the power of sitting in solidarity with a safe person to break its suffocating grip.
- Absolute Responsibility Needs Absolute Forgiveness — Confronted by guilt? Discover the healing shift from right-handed judgment to the left-handed power of absolute forgiveness and peace.
- To Forgive Is to Remember… Differently — Your brain is wired with a bias, but you can learn to “remember differently.” Discover how Jesus stands on your neural pathways to offer freedom.
About the Author
Barry Pearman has spent almost 30 years as a mental health support worker, community chaplain, and pastor, and has walked through depression himself. His training includes SoulCare Foundations under Dr Larry Crabb, a Bachelor of Applied Theology, spiritual direction training, and certificates in CBT interventions, pastoral therapy, and integrated mental health care. Turning the Page offers a grace-filled path to mental wholeness through faith and hope.
