Forget, then Follow
(Cover photo credit: Alexandre Perotto)
“3 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 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.
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One of the biggest hindrances to a person trying to live a life in Jesus is the stubbornness of holding onto emotions and accomplishments.
I’ve rarely met a person who has not struggled with this in some regard. Whether it be trying to move past an offense caused by a friend or relative or bragging about a competition that somebody one eight years ago, people love to hold onto stuff.
Paul himself knew this and this is why he needed to address the issue. He knew from his own experience. As he rifles off his list of accomplishments to the church in Philippi, they would have understood straight away that he did have reason to boast of his deeds.
Yet, they are startled when they read the words, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” He even goes further to say that these accomplishments are garbage, needing to be thrown out into the trash pile.
He replaces his knowledge of what he knew and grew up learning with the desire to have intimacy in Christ: the kind that knows the power of resurrection and participation in suffering (v.10). He goes further to say that this is not something he’s already attained, but to complete the goal he must forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead.
Like Paul, I believe there are a couple of things we can forget so that we can follow closer to the feet of Jesus.
I believe that we can forget the “good things” in our lives. What I mean when I say this is the kind of stuff that we fill our lives with when we could be learning more from Jesus.
The way that can best sort through whether a good thing is getting in our way with Jesus is asking ourselves, “Is what I’m doing honoring God?” If you go to watch your son’s t-ball game and wrestle with the thought of “Ugh! I could be reading a healthy portion of Deuteronomy right about now,” then you’re following the letter of the law and not the heart. Enjoying your son’s game should not be viewed as a hindrance to you and God. We honor God when we treat our children right.
If, on the other hand, you think that your Netflix binge is getting in the way of you and time with Jesus, consider watching one movie or episode. If you feel like that’s too much still, cut it out altogether.
Media in all sizes and shapes are big deterrents in our abiding time with Jesus. Whether it be sitting in front of a Playstation, scrolling Facebook on our phone, watching Youtube clips on our tablets, or impulsively clicking the icons with the most recent notifications, we are saturated with media.
Media, in and of itself, is not bad. When we exalt it to lordship, however, then we’re in trouble.
Photo credit: Karolina Grabowska
I’ve had my fair share of this in the past. I’ll be playing a game on my tablet and inevitably start striking up a losing streak. Rather than give up and move on, pride makes sure I’m to play until I win again (Go out on a high note, ya know?). Still, that comes at a cost on whether or not I’m checking my emotions and sensing if I’m getting angry and frustrated.
More often than not, I’ll get mad and be in a bad mood for the rest of the evening; I could care less at that moment on whether I’m going to be chatting with Jesus (or my wife, for that matter). For me, at least, it’s that reason there that I could do without the excessive use of media in my life.
What are some of the “good things” you could forget (do without) to make room for Christ in your life?
I also believe that we can let go of guilt that is out to hinder us. I say hinder because guilt can sometimes prompt us to act to right the wrong. We call this conviction.
The guilt that hinders us are mistakes and failures we’ve made in the past that have latched on like ticks, sucking the life force out of us and we have no idea where they’re at on us. We know something’s wrong, but that’s about all we know.
Guilt makes it’s way into our minds when we don’t view ourselves in a healthy manner: when we put blame on ourselves for a project we oversaw that was good, but could’ve been better; when we fail to show joy for a friend’s celebration when we actually feel sad because no one has celebrated us like that; when we use our metaphorical music playlist to play songs like “Ain’t Good Enough” and “I’ll Never Be Me (Anymore)”.
Photo credit: Tim Gouw
Guilt wants to be the pesky monkey riding our backs everywhere we go, biting our ears when we think that just maybe we can feel good about who we are. It’ll poop on our shoulder and say, “That. That’s all you deserve to be handed to you.”
The truth of the matter is that we are already good enough in the eyes of Jesus. When he allowed his body to be nailed to the cross, we were acceptable to him then just like we’re acceptable to him now. The garbage that we’ve had slung over our shoulder, carrying around like a security blanket, needs to drop on the corner for trash pickup to haul away. Jesus isn’t interested in that junk we’ve carried because he’s already taken care of anything we might have in our sack. We can live like new if we want. If we want.
What about you? Are there areas of guilt you need to forget and let go?
When you forget what lies behind, you’re free to follow toward what lies ahead. You might think you have it good now, but there’s better on the other side. You might feel like guilt will handicap you, but Jesus will strengthen you to walk with him.
