Luke 7:47 English Standard Version (ESV) Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

We are created as emotional beings. Love is the core value of God’s will in our lives. Our perceptions of love is experiential. We do not all receive the right kind of love in our former lives. We do not love others as God intends.

This hangover of our past life is tied directly to our emotions about that old person, the one the bible calls the old man.

Ephesians 4:21-23 English Standard Version (ESV) ²¹ assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²² to put off your old self,^[man] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

This spirit of the mind is your emotional identity and if you have not put the old man to death, the emotional attachments have detrimental effects on our reasoning powers and the choices we make.

Romans 6:6 English Standard Version (ESV) ⁶ We know that our old self^[man] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

This body of sin issue related to the hangover is directly tied to accepting the forgiveness which was performed at the Cross and seeing that we are no long slaves to sin. We have the ability to say no. It is the life hangover that keeps telling us that we cannot help ourselves. Those emotions keep us from accepting forgiveness that is given over past sins and seeking forgiveness for future sins.

Having the power to say no to sin does not mean we will say no and deny sin its opportunity to make us feel the pain of those mistakes. The old man is not quite dead enough if we feel the pangs of unforgiveness for past sins. This new life must begin with a fresh start, one that does not exhibit life’s hangover.

Luke 7:47 English Standard Version (ESV) Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

“Mom always liked you best.” That was a line from the Smother’s Brothers show. It was an expression that people connected with because the reality of family relationships is one of personal perception that has no basis in truth.

We all become new creations in Christ when we become born again. We come into the Kingdom with what I might call a life hangover. We are aware of our past and that awareness affects our initial placement in this new family of God. We are still human and this new life requires some adjustments in our thinking and our perceptions. Neither are easy to do and we have to take our hangover medicine to get over the life we had to enjoy the life we now live.

If our self-image is one of being a pretty good person with few failures in our past life, we might not appreciate the enormity of what just happened to us in this new birth. In some administrations of faith they do not even address adequately the issues of rebirth. Doctrine becomes the standard of living without addressing the personal struggle of the individual in getting rid of life’s hangover.

“I’m still me.”

I have said that and I was wrong. It was a perception based on not accepting that I really had changed. The renewed mind in charge of identifying our new surroundings is negotiating with the will of God about what to accept in this new reality. Our perceptions of who we were in our past lives can affect our acceptance of truth in this new reality, Kingdom living.

This life hangover affects how well we love others because we are trying to find our place using old standards which also should have died at new birth.