“…Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews: as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church: touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:…Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reading forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”Philippians 3:4-8a; 13-14
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In a situation where help and restoration is needed, how often have you advised or been advised to “forget it - it’s behind you, just look ahead now.What’s in the past is in the past and doesn’t matter.”?
Well, in itself, there’s nothing wrong with that but it does need qualifying.To really move forward, you need to be honest.Too often we try to commence the ‘healing’ process within the midst of these verses and go straight to “…this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind…I press toward the mark….”
We need to take a simple lesson from Apostle Paul and go back to the beginning of this particular portion of scripture.Before he could press forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, he opened up fully and outlined everything about himself.He laid the various issues of his life bare then buried them.
Until we do that, we are only covering things which will rear their heads – ugly or beautiful – at some point in the future which can be a major distraction.He spoke of things that in the flesh he might have boasted about before.Once he had them out of his system he could sacrifice them to God as an offering and turn his back on them.
The same principle can be used for painful situations.We may not want to deal with what happened to us or what we did but in order to really forsake it – face it we must.The pain may be great; the memories may seem like a cascading waterfall; the wrenching in the stomach may seem almost unbearable; the embarrassment too overwhelming but, again I say – face it we must!
As we consider these possibilities of what can happen, we need to really consider the consequences of NOT walking through this process.What could we lose?
Paul decided to let go of his past and said he counted all things loss.Why? He had wisdom enough to recognise a good trade-off.Holding on to his own reputation and qualification was being weighed against the benefit, the joy, the wholesomeness of knowing Christ Jesus and attaining the peak of God’s call on his life.
Too many times we hold on to the knowledge of our own goodness; our own past history; our own regrets; our own abuse; our own landmarks in life.Choose to let go of the knowledge of such things because they cannot be compared to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
What are the things you are holding on to; trying to hide, afraid to face?As this year closes and you seek to excel in God and have Him manifest Himself through you; in His presence and with His empowerment - bare it then bury it!
