DAY 8 | Feeling Unworthy Because of Your Past? Watch This | Excuses God Didn’t Accept

Who among us does not think about our past and wish we did some things differently?

For me, there are moments when the past feels heavier than the present, and I am quietly wondering whether God can still use someone like me. Maybe you don’t have that feeling…but I’m just being vulnerable here for a moment.

For some, it might be a failure that haunts us, a decision we regret, a season we can’t quite forgive ourselves for. These become the evidence the enemy uses to whisper, “You’re unworthy.” 

Many believers love God deeply yet struggle to believe He can use us because of what we’ve been through. And if anyone understood that feeling, it was Peter.

Before Jesus was arrested, Peter boldly declared his loyalty, insisting he would never abandon the Lord. Yet in the heat of fear and pressure, he denied Jesus not once but three times. 

Scripture says in Matthew 26:75 (NIV), “Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken… And he went outside and wept bitterly.” 

That bitter weeping tells us everything. It was the sound of a man who believed he had ruined it all — his calling, his witness, his relationship with Jesus. After the resurrection, Peter returned to fishing, not because he lost faith in Jesus, but because he lost faith in himself.

What Peter didn’t realize was that Jesus had already prepared a moment of restoration. When Jesus appeared to the disciples on the shore, He didn’t condemn Peter or avoid him. 

Instead, He spoke directly to the place where Peter felt the most unworthy. 

In John 21:15 (NIV), Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” This wasn’t a test of affection — it was Jesus gently pulling Peter out of the shame that had buried him. Jesus asked three times, mirroring Peter’s three denials, not to remind Peter of his failure but to restore his identity.

Family, our past may feel like a barrier between us and God, but Scripture makes it clear that God is not intimidated by our history. 

Isaiah 43:25 (NIV) says, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” 

God does not hold your past against you. He blots out our past. He removes it from the record entirely. And when God forgives, He does so completely.

Another powerful reminder comes from Micah 7:19 (NIV): “You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” 

This means your past is not floating around waiting to be thrown back in your face. And that’s great news because many of us do that to people, and we have had people use our past against us.

God buries it in a place where it can no longer define us. Peter thought his failure disqualified him, but Jesus was preparing to launch him. 

On the day of Pentecost, the same man who once denied Jesus stood boldly and preached a message that led three thousand people to salvation. That is what grace can do.

Often, the thing we regret the most becomes the very place God displays the greatest transformation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 

The old hasn’t just changed — it has gone. God doesn’t recycle our past; He replaces it with purpose. And that’s exactly what Jesus did with Peter. Instead of reminding him of his failure, Jesus gave him a future. Instead of punishing him for denying Him, Jesus commissioned him: “Feed My sheep.”

Someone listening today needs that same reminder. Your past is not a prophecy. Your history is not your destiny. God never consults your failures to determine your future. 

Hebrews 10:17 (NIV) declares, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 

If God has chosen to forget our past, then we do not have permission to carry what He has erased.

Peter’s story teaches us that the moments we are most ashamed of do not disqualify us — they prepare us. They break our pride, deepen our dependence, and shape our compassion. 

When Jesus restored Peter, He wasn’t overlooking the past; He was overturning it. Grace does not deny what you did; grace denies what the enemy wants it to mean.

So today, if there is any of you who feels unworthy because of your past, hear this clearly: God is not finished with you, He is not finished with me. He is not disappointed in us. He is not reconsidering us. 

What Peter experienced by that shoreline is what God offers us right now — full forgiveness, complete restoration, and a calling that has not been cancelled.

Our past may have broken us, but grace rebuilds us. And the God who restored Peter will restore you, as well. Hallelujah.