A time to remember, a time to forget, part two

January 2, 2012

Another way of expressing the thought from yesterday:

Philippians 3: 7-14

‘’But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 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 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. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

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. 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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’’

I have not been good, in my past, at letting go of hurts, wounds, attacks, and losses. In fact, I’ve more often kept the documentation that proves those hurts and losses, holding on to many things that I should have let go of long ago.

So whether it is related to forgiveness, and the fact that God has forgiven me so I need to forgive others, or, that sense of giving up to God, things that I do not need to hold on to any more, or one step further, even letting go of whatever things I once considered to be gains, I need to let it all go. All of it.

This has been a back and forth process for me, for a number of years. The past few weeks, while working through some backlogs of past work, I realized again, that I have been holding on to things I should not be holding on to, for reasons that are not positive. I am working my way through several of those situations, and am systematically working to eliminate the evidence that serves only as negative reminders for me of those situations.

I know for certain that as I get rid of these reminders, my natural forgetfulness will take over, and eventually my heart and soul will also forget, and I will not be hurt by these memories, because the reminders are gone.

This is what God does for us: Psalm 103:12 says ‘’ as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.’’

That is where I am at today. My hope is to write more about Maforga, and the children there, and our mission to be a part of the team there in Mozambique to help these children.