Many of us have been members of the church of God for several decades. Most of the time, we feel we are doing fairly well spiritually. Still, occasionally we remember sins we committed when relatively new in the faith, and such memories cause us pain.

Our past sins have tormented all of us at some point. We stand self-condemned and vulnerable to the evil ploys of "the accuser of our brethren" to get us to dwell on them (Revelation 12:10). But, as Martin Collins said in his sermon, "Are You Feeling Guilty of Past Sins?," "We cannot experience the joy of salvation while we are obsessing on past sins."

We seem to forget that God forgives us of our sins upon our sincere repentance. He removes our transgressions "as far as east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12), but sadly, we too often bring them back into remembrance. Instead of dwelling on our failures, we should instead feel faithfully confident once we truly repent of a sin.

Kintsugi, a form of Japanese art, is hundreds of years old, and it can help us in this regard. No one is certain of its origins, but kintsugi is not only a thing of beauty but also a facet of Japanese philosophy. Kintsugi literally means "golden joinery." Japanese artisans repair broken ceramics with a special lacquer mixed with powdered precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum, creating beauty from the ugliness of breakage. The repaired cracks highlight events in the object's life, specifically the ones that caused damage and may have, but for the repair, rendered the object useless.

From this has arisen a philosophy of embracing the flawed or imperfect. The Japanese recognize that the broken but repaired object is now even more valuable, teaching them to embrace mistakes with a proper repair that not only restores usefulness but also adds value.

Christians can apply this philosophy to sins that we have overcome.

In this regard, the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 has much to teach us. We know the story: A wealthy man has two sons, and the younger son tells his father that he does not want to wait for his inheritance, amounting to one-third of his father's estate, as his older brother would receive a double portion. His father complies, giving his younger son the money.

Shortly thereafter, the son travels to a faraway country and wastes all the money, probably doing all the things one might expect of an irresponsible young man. Then, a famine strikes that land, and now he is completely broke, with few friends and no family to lean on.

Luke 15:15 says that he then "joined" himself to a citizen of the country. "Joined" is the Greek word kollaho, which is the verb of kolla, "glue." Another way of saying it is that he became a bondservant of that citizen, who sends him to feed his pigs. What an indignity for a Jewish man! The younger son is truly stuck in an overwhelmingly adverse situation, all because of his bad decisions. The choices that we make have consequences!

He had a good life at home with his kind father and his brother, but he threw it all away. Yet, now, he is so hungry he would have even eaten the pigs' food, but as Jesus says, "No one gave him anything" (verse 16). But then, God opens his mind, and "he [comes] to himself" (verse 17). He sees how foolish he had been. With no other options and literally starving, he decides to return to his father's house and present himself as a hired servant.

His father is thrilled to see his son coming back home. Even better, his son confesses before God and his father that he had committed a grievous sin. In humility, he does not ask to be reinstated to his previous position but simply begs his father for mercy. He repents.

But his father's reaction is more than he could have hoped for. He does not condemn him. Instead, rejoicing, he forgives him completely, commanding his best robe, a ring, and sandals to be brought out for his son. These gifts signify the son's complete restoration to his role within the family, despite his previous grievous transgressions.

Bible scholar Dr. Eitan Bar explains:

The "best robe" belongs not to one of the servants but to the father and is saved for special events and celebrations. . . . [It was] a long robe . . . worn by the upper classes in the East. It was a symbol of honor and status. By requesting this robe for his son, . . . the father . . . was reinstating his honor, his place in the family, and erasing the shame that came with his prior actions. This gesture, especially in front of the household servants, is a public proclamation that the son's past is forgotten, and his original status in the family remains unchanged. The father didn't only show compassion by forgiving his past mistakes. He gave grace by reminding his son—and everyone else around—that he is still his loved child.

Merging this parable with kintsugi, we can see that the gold of repentance and forgiveness fills the cracks left by sin. When, with God's help, we repent and overcome our mistakes and sins, God makes good come from those experiences. By our actions, we are cracked and damaged vessels, but when God grants us repentance and forgiveness, He heals those cracks with the lacquer and gold by His Holy Spirit. That beautiful joinery becomes a permanent part of our new-and-improved character.

When this happens, we are actually much better than we were before: stronger, more pleasing, and more useful to God—even more perfect. God's process of perfecting us will be the subject of Part Two.