Forgetting the past, pressing ahead

The title of this post is an inadequate summary of the context of Philippians 3:13,14 “Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” The things Paul was forgetting were the things that were gain to him which he now counted as loss (verses 7,8). Paul here was not stuffing emotional memories, but rather he had dealt with his religious spirit and self righteousness (verses 3-9). There are a couple of recovery sayings that encapsulate what I want to say this morning. They are “If we burry our emotions, we burry them alive,” and “If we don’t deal with the root of our problems they will shoot up where we least expect, or want, them to.” Part of what I am saying here, is that in order forget the past in a non-dysfunctional way, we will likely first have to re-visit it, in order to cooperate with the Lord in redeeming and healing it.

Certainly forgetting the past includes not is living there either seeing it through rose coloured glasses, or being stuck there in bitterness or regret. One of the advantages of being old (not that I am :) ) is that you start to see patterns. And I have seen over and over, people going from one broken relationship to another, learning nothing about themselves in the process. I also hear Christians who do this, misquote verses like this morning’s saying “I don’t need to deal with the past, because it is all under the blood!” And as I say, they go on to make the same mistakes over and over. There are a couple more wise sayings that seem to fit the bill here. “Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it,” and “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome!”

So what sort of things am I talking about? Well first and foremost in my mind is “leaving your gift at the alter and going and being reconciled with your brother” (Matthew 5:23,24). But secondly, because we have likely buried things alive, we will not likely see our faults unless we re-visit (not camp there) the past. What I am saying is that we need help. It can come through the iron sharpening iron process (see March posts). It can be done through therapy or within the community of working the steps of twelve-step-programs. Being part of the leadership in the “Celebrate Recovery” version of this, has lead me to deeply appreciate the process. In particular to appreciate the nonjudgemental and unconditional help that is available both from God and the fellowship, in moving towards fulfilling the James 5:16 admonition and its promise of healing.

Father, no one is saying this process is easy, but I have learned in my own life, that many times You need to open up an old wound in order to cauterize and cleans and heal it. So help us this morning Lord to determine, like Jesus did, to push through the pain to joy (Hebrews 12:2), so that we may indeed forget those things which are behind, and press toward the goal in Jesus Name Amen