Still unpacking the context of our primary verse “I can to all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), I want to look today at two passages in Philippians, which surely pay a big part in empowering us to take this as our own. The first 3:13,14 has to do with “pressing on”. Paul says “ .. one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind ... I press on toward the goal to win the prize....” I alluded earlier to the second (4:4-7) as the process of choosing to rejoice, being gentle to all, being thankful and in bringing our concerns and and requests to God in prayer. I call this pressing into the presence, for it is in His presence that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, (which) will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” will come to us (the word in brackets is mine).
In terms of pressing in, how many times, in the battles of life, have I felt driven to find a quiet place with Him to bring my hurts and pains and conflicts to Him, for His comfort and help to sort out. He is the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:4), He is the God of all Grace (1 Peter 5:10), He brings a peace that the World knows nothing about. He is the one who, when I press in, guards my heart. This guarding of the heart is so necessary to the successful living of the Christian life. It is the heart that gets drawn away in temptation (James 1:14), it is the heart that condemns us many times, it is the heart that we allow to get hardened when someone crosses us, or when we obsess on the past. These things shut Him out. Yes it is God who guards our hearts when we press in, but we have an important part to play in the process. “Keep your heart with all diligence” we are told, “For out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). When we allow bitterness or jealousy or resentment or pride or fear to have their way in our hearts, these things inevitable show up in our speech and our behaviour, for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). We cannot stay in His presence when we allow these negatives to come in. And when we step outside of His presence, we loose the benefits of abiding (living) there (see John 15), including His enabling power.
The two things in the title of the post are connected, forgetting the past (and so pressing on) and pressing in. Taken together they help move us forward in our Christian walk and our healing. I said earlier that forgiving a person is not the same as saying 'it does not matter' (see 'Full of poison, or full of the Spirit' Jan 2011). In the same way forgetting the past is not the same as pretending it did not happen. The fact of the matter is however, that many of us are imprisoned by the past. Paul in the passage from Philippians 3, tells us of his imprisonment to what at first sight looked like good things. These things included his position and training and zeal, and he believed at the time, that that zeal was for God. But these are the very things that kept him from knowing Christ. Paul was relying on his own goodness, his own righteousness which he came to see was like filthy rags (see Isaiah 64:6; Phil 3:9). For many of us, it can be the negative things that keep us imprisoned. We have talked about how bitterness and the like can poison us (January 27,31), but there are many other things that imprison us including pain, fear, jealousy, hate, pride, stubbornness, guilt, shame etc., etc. Many times there are lies we have believed. “I don't deserve to be forgiven”, “I have done to much bad to be accepted by God” (July 20, 2010), “I will always be in this much pain”, “God loves others, but not me”. Lies get attached to abuse “its all my fault”. We can get trapped in regret “if only ..”
The language of being born again is greatly abused, misunderstood and overused in our culture. But when it was first used in John 3, it was startling. One of the things that has gotten lost in its overuse, is that it speaks of new beginnings. The point is that at conversion and significant points in our journey, there is in Christ for ever this possibility of starting over. We can blow it in many ways, and many times we do. But God does not put us on the shelf when we do. He may, in the word picture of Jeremiah, make of us a “different vessel”, that is have a different plan or destiny for us, but He always has a plan and it is always good (Jeremiah 18:1f; 29:11).
The Bible tells us of God's forgiveness and His forgetfulness of our sin when we confess and forsake it. He “will cast our sins into the deepest sea” (Micah 7:19). As one preacher added – He also posted a sign “no Fishing”. He “Blots our our transgressions and remembers them no more” (Isaiah 43:25). What God chooses to forget we should not bring to remembrance. It is not God who constantly reminds us of our failures. Bill Johnson says “I cannot afford to have a thought in my head about me that is not in His”. In 3:13 Paul talks about forgetting those things which are behind. Like Paul, we need to put behind us the things that hinder. For Paul it was his religiosity. What is it for you? Is it your failures? Is it what was done to you?
When Paul tells us that he forgets the past, he is talking about not letting the past defeat us. He is not talking about denial, or pretending that we have not been deeply hurt and affected by things in the past. We need to bring such things to Him to fix. King David in Psalm 142:2 tells us that he poured out his complaint before the Lord telling Him all his trouble. The Lord “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). He wants to restore all that has been taken from us, and to set us free from the past. This was why Jesus came (Luke 4:18). He does this healing and restoration in the intimacy of His presence. Many of the Psalms testify to this, they chronicle the change as the Psalmist comes to the Lord and allows Him to smooth his ruffled feathers. Sometimes we are mad at God and stay away, but God is bigger than our anger, and He would rather we went to Him in our anger than stayed away in it. That way He has a chance to comfort us. How many times in my imagination have I pounded God's chest with my fists even as He held me close?
This putting the past in the past and leaving it there is a process, it involves pressing on, - continuing to draw close, continuing the way we know He wants us to go. It involves getting back on the path as soon as possible when we stray. For me it often involves working the steps in Philippians 4:4-7. It involves pressing in to Him, spending time in His Word and in His presence. It is there that hope is reborn and our shattered and broken lives and hearts are mended. Press on, and press in to His presence. You can do this, you can do it and all things, in and through Jesus Christ the Lord. You will not regret it.
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