“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (Philippians 3: 13 KJV).
Forgetting the past; “those things which are behind” is vital to advancing or maturing or “apprehending” the prize that is before the Christian. And forgetting the past is the responsibility of the Christian. Paul said, “this one thing I do.”
The apostle Paul said that he was living that he may “apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” That meant he was seeking the same things in his life and striving to be the same person that Christ wanted him to be. In other words, Paul wanted to see God’s perfect will accomplished in his life. And in order for him to see that he had to lay to rest all that was behind him; he had to forget it. Paul was focused on the prize that was set before him, not on the past that was set behind him that could not be changed.
Paul had to cooperate and participate with the work of God, and part of the work he was responsible for was forgetting the past. God does not erase our past from our minds. He forgives and forgets our past. Those sins that we confess He remembers them no more (Jer. 31: 34).
The forgetfulness Paul is speaking of though is a deliberate, willful act whereby we refuse to recall or remember what is in our past, because we know it hinders us, so that we may stay focused on the Christian race in front of us. The way to forget anything is by refusing to remember them; refusing to bring them to mind.
The way to be delivered from the past is to forget it. It’s easy to forget the past if we’re facing forward and have all the powers of our personality engaged in following after Jesus. And if we see we’re not advancing, it could be because we’re not forgetting the past.
Christians will never reach their full potential in Christ Jesus if they’re looking backward instead of forward. They live in defeat and do not grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ because they are living in the past. By milking their past, one ruins their present and future.
Do your part, act responsibly, and forget the past.
