Studies show only about three percent of your life’s events are memorable.

That is not the case for Jill Price.  Jill can remember everything thanks to a condition called hyperthymestic syndrome. From the age of 14 on, she automatically recalls every detail and every thought of every day, like a never ending playback of her entire autobiography.

For those who struggle to remember birthdays and names, Jill might seem to possess an extraordinary gift. You might be wishing you could have her on your next Trivial Pursuit team. There is a downside this condition, however, as Jill records in her memoir, “The Woman Who Can’t Forget”:

“Imagine being able to remember every fight you ever had with a friend, every time someone let you down, all the stupid mistakes you ever made, the meanest, most harmful thing you’ve ever said to people and those they said to you. Then imagine not being able to push them out of your mind no matter what you tried.”

Jill is not alone. Many of us are prisoners of our past. We beat ourselves up over past mistakes. We believe self-defeating lies. We live with low self-esteem because we base our value on what we have done wrong.

The solution to our problem is to commit to learning and living more like Jesus and, in the process, coming to a fuller understanding of God’s forgiveness. Paul explains it this way:

‘’There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1

Notice how it doesn’t say “slightly less condemnation.” This isn’t a “you pay half, I’ll pay half” or “no interest until 2017” scenario Jesus is offering us. For those who call Christ their Lord and Savior, this literally means no condemnation– as in none; nada; zilch; zero.

Think of how your life would change if you truly accepted this truth. Accepting it means to make a commitment to no longer define your life by what you’ve done wrong and start defining it by what Christ did right.