Teresa Poucher
I get frustrated because I don’t remember where I left my keys or phone. What was that password? I don’t recall. However, sometimes I remember things I should have forgotten. It would benefit me to lose sight of a few things.
“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, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
Hmm, can I press toward that mark if I hold on to disturbing memories? Why would we hold on to the past? It makes us stagnant and keeps us stationary. Yes, you were done wrong. Surely it hurts. If my body were injured, wouldn’t I clean the wound in spite of the pain? If I didn’t, it could get severely infected. Yes, it might leave a scar. That will either be a badge of honor or one of shame and regret.
The time I spend on distressing memories is robbing me of the time I could be praising and growing in God. Remember, Paul and Silas (Acts16) were thrown in jail after being beaten. In stocks at midnight, they prayed and sang praises. All the prisoner’s bands were loosed. Maybe it’s your midnight hour.
“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)
It’s time to forget.