We all have bad things that have happened to us that we would like to forget. If you haven’t experienced something bad, hang on it’s coming. Sometimes the bad things are situations we are put in by others, and sometimes they are situations we bring upon ourselves. Either way, there are things we would like to forget, yet they always seem to be in the back of our minds.
How do we deal with those thoughts that seem to haunt us and paralyze our progress forward? Just like we tackle anything that we want to change, we go to the source of all that is good, God’s word.
In Acts 7: 54-60 we find our first glimpse of the apostle Paul. Paul, at that time, was called by his Hebrew name Saul. He is the young man who holds the coats of those who were stoning Stephen for his faith in Jesus.
Act 7:58 “And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.”
Paul later refers to this in Acts 22:20. He remembers the incident as if it were yesterday.
Act 22:20 “And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.”
He was on his way to persecute other followers of Jesus when Jesus spoke to him, and he was struck down blind. Paul was converted from a Jewish zealot to a believer in Jesus Christ. Until Paul’s conversion, he was in full force in persecuting Christians. He was a Jew that studied at the feet of Gamaliel, he was an up-and-coming leader of the Jews, and intended to defend anything that threatened their customs or beliefs.
Act 22:3-4 “I am verily a man which is a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.”
After his conversion, Paul was just as zealous for Jesus as he had been for his Jewish beliefs. Our past should teach us volumes about ourselves, but our present should teach us more about who we are and what we are to become. How we handle today determines who we will be tomorrow. As a Christian, my goal is to be like Christ. Will I achieve that here on this earth? No, but each day should be a step in that direction. In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul tells us of three things that help him and will help us to move closer to becoming like Jesus and forgetting the past.
Philippians 3:13-14 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
The first thing Paul does is to purpose to forget the past. If we do not keep our minds focused on God and His word, our past will drag us down. Satan will use our past to convince us we are no good, and we can’t succeed as Christians. Dwelling on the past can paralyze us to the point we will be of no value to the kingdom.
Next, Paul is determined to move forward in faith. When he talks about forgetting, it is not a one-and-done type of action. It is a continuous action to continue to forget. The phrase reaching forward is in reference to a racer who leans forward to allow his body to cross the finish line as soon as possible. A runner never looks back. Looking back only slows him down. The only time a runner looks back is after the race. He reflects on what he did wrong and ways he can improve the next race. He doesn’t dwell on what he can’t change but focuses on what he can improve.
Finally, Paul is pressing forward for the prize of the high calling. He uses the analogy of a racer, and when Paul wrote this, a racer usually received a crown, or garland, if he was first to cross the finish line. For those who have received Jesus as their Savior, there is a crown of life waiting at the end of our race. When we end our race, we will have an eternal prize. During our race, if we run well, we will be pleasing to God, we will maneuver past the obstacle of sin that Satan throws in our path, and we will experience the strength that the Holy Spirit provides within.
You can’t press forward while looking back. The suffering of the past and remembering the bad that we experienced will only hinder our forward progress if we dwell on it. We should learn from our past so that we don’t repeat it, but we don’t allow the past to bog us down with guilt. Never allow the bad to cause you to question God and His goodness. Choose to leave behind the bad. When you focus on Christ it’s hard to see anything that isn’t good, Press on!
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