Letting Go to Move Forward
It takes both of us, and sometimes it takes a village. I am not talking about raising children, though parents do need a village to help them with the important task of parenting. What takes two or more people to do is recalling a name! How many times have you been with a friend or family member and start to mention so and so… you know, they’re tall, they were in your cousins wedding, and on and on until someone can finally recall the name!
Memory is a process of encoding, storing, and recalling information from your brain. As we age, we store uncountable amounts of information in this wonderful storage unit called the brain. But sometimes retrieving that information is challenging. And this isn’t just an older person problem, though it is a common problem for all of us as we age.
In Philippians 3:13-14 Paul wrote:
“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Paul wrote a lot about joy in the book of Philippians, and in verse 13 he gives us one of the tools we can use to experience more joy in our lives. In order to experience the fullness of the Christian life, we must learn to forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead.
Many readers know the joy and the struggle of caring for aging parents and friends. Some of the difficulty has to do with short- and long-term memory loss. I visited an older friend last week who told me the same story probably ten times during our visit. He was completely unaware that he was repeating the story. What struck me was that this story was encoded in his memory from his youth, and sadly it was a very difficult and painful memory that is stuck in his head. Fortunately, it is not his only memory so there are happy and joyful times he can recall but the wound from this one memory has not ever been released.
While we have the mental capacity to do so, it is critical that we learn to let go of some things from our past. For some, it may require forgiving someone who has hurt you. For others, it requires forgiving ourselves for the mistakes we have made. I don’t think that Paul was specifically thinking about forgiveness in this verse, but I think for some it is an important aspect of our ability to focus on what is ours in the upward call we have from God.
Earlier in this chapter, Paul made reference to both his previous accomplishments as well as many times he had suffered. Paul believed that in order to focus fully on knowing Christ and experiencing a victorious Christian life, we must let go of the past and focus on what is ours in the gift of today, as well as what new opportunities for service are right in front of us now.
The legendary basketball coach, John Wooden, had a 7-point creed that he followed. One principle he challenged himself and his players to do was make each day your masterpiece. We can’t enjoy all that God has for us today if we are determined to hang on to yesterday’s problems or mistakes.
Maybe Wooden, who was a believer, was thinking about Paul’s words from Ephesians:
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
God’s workmanship is in fact a masterpiece. Every one of us has been created by God as a masterpiece and we are all designed that we might do the good works of God by the power that lives in us through Christ Jesus and through the Holy Spirit.
So today, don’t worry if you can’t recall some memories, or names. In fact, today might just be the day you choose to forget some things from your past that are holding you back. Today is a day the Lord has made and given to you so that you can make a masterpiece of service as you draw upon the strength of the Lord and do the kingdom work he has called you to do.
Father, thank you for waking us up and giving us another day to know you and to serve you by serving others. With the apostle Paul, we declare: “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Philippians 3:13-14; Ephesians 2:10 ESV
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