Philippians 3:13-14, “13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
You move past your past by forgetting what is behind you and pressing on towards your future by the power of the Holy Spirit. You cannot effectively move forward looking backwards. Imagine trying to drive a car forward by looking into the rear view mirror- it would be disastrous! The same is true with the past, you can’t effectively move forward continually focusing on your past- you have to “forgot” the past and focus on what is ahead to move into God’s plan for your life.
Every one of us has things in our past we want to forget about, but the memories follow us everywhere. Our mind sometimes can be our worst enemy- repeating like a broken record our past hurts and failures. For some the worst memories of the past are what others did to you. The pain they caused you lives on because you keep the past memories in your present thoughts.
For others the past is haunting because of the sinful things you did to others and yourself. You wish you could just hit the “reset button” and have all your sinful memories erased.
Paul in the above passage stated that He hadn’t yet received His resurrected body, thus he was still reminded of his past mistakes. On the other hand, he wrote there is one thing he can do, “forget what lies behind and strain towards what is ahead!” By “forgetting what is behind” Paul is not referring to the “erasing of his memories,” but rather the “freedom from being focused on them in the present.”
The only way someone can no longer focus on the past is if the Holy Spirit washes and renews his or her mind. Paul wrote in Romans 12;2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Until the believer is given their new body, it will be a daily “strain” to keep the mind free from the past and stay focused on the future. Think about your mind as a cup of clean water that was cleansed when you were born again and every time the thoughts about your past come and try to make the cup dirty the Holy Spirit offers to cleanse you from them and keep you pure.
Therefore, until you receive a new body- make a choice everyday to step out of your past and into God’s future!
Reflection
Action
- Ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse your mind and set you free from the broken record of your past.
- Anytime your past memories try to come back ask God to cleanse you again.
- Stay focused on your future and meditate on God’s promises for your life!
