Queries and Controversies: How do I understand the ongoing consequences of forgiven sin?

In this article, John Piper answers the question “How do I understand the ongoing consequences of forgiven sin? My family was violent, immoral, and drunken. I was the same way from my mid-teens to my late twenties, when Jesus met me and began to change me. How do I understand God’s hand in the incurable herpes I contracted? In the emptiness I feel with my family? In the relationships I’ve ruined with anger and manipulation? I know I’m forgiven by God, but my past life still beats up on me and casts its shadow.” Piper presents the consequences of forgiven sin and the idea that you are not enslaved to your past.