12. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
13. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.
One of the greatest attributes of the human condition is memory. Through memory we can relive some of our favorite moments in life — falling in love, the birth of children, personal and career acheivements. Failure of memeory, can have effects that range from a day ruined by searching for something misplaced, to the heartbreaking loss of independence seen in Alzheimers or dementia.
But memory can also work against us in other ways — having adverse effects on our ability to discover and reach our potential. Memory is an attribute that can be a gift and a curse, literally, if we let it. When memory induces fear, it can be polarizing to an individual — turning goals into mere dreams, making ambition a faint voice in the background as we settle for the path of least resistance.
A person once said to me, “sometimes you have to bring the past into the present.” Because I knew the context of the discussion, I knew they were talking about negative history — the kind that fuels anger and bitterness — not the positive history that inspires ambiton and promise. Since they were an elder, there was no use in trying to explain the damaging effect that mindset had on their life, their relationships, and the way others perceived them. What perplexed me most was seeing how this person would weaponize someone else’s past in an effeort to claim moral superiority.
Before becoming the Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus lived in total contradiction to Jesus Christ — admitting this in Acts 26:9, “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.” Yet when Jesus placed a calling on his life to be the apostle to the Gentiles, he did not hesitate to wash his memory of past actions and embrace the very way he once hated. Even when The Twelve and other followers of The Way feared and doubted him because of his history, Paul stood firmly on his present state of mind — never waivering until becoming accepted for who he was in the present.
Perhaps this is the reason Jesus placed the calling of Apostle to the Gentiles on Paul. He is living proof of the truth he was inspired to write. In Romans 8:35 Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” And he answers his own question in Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
If Jesus chose the one person whose life’s mission was to imprison and kill those who followed Him, why would Jesus hold your past against you? Why would he refuse to accept you into His family as a member of His Church Body?
We who are called to follow Christ Jesus, must wash our minds of past sins and mistakes, in order to discover His calling for our lives. Even when others doubt our salvation or who we’ve become in Christ, we stand with full conviction, firmly planted in the cleansing that is taking place within us. Your past does not disqualify you from Jesus calling you brother or sister. If anything, He calls you even louder.
Remember the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:3-7 — the shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep to go and find the one who was lost. Or what Jesus tells us in Luke 15:10, “In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
Be the one lost sheep that Jesus carries on His shoulders in joy when you answer His call. Dare to be the reason God’s angels rejoice in Heaven when you repent and release your past. Leave your sins, regrets, and mistakes behind you. It is exactly what God does for us — and expects from us — as Psalm 103:12 declares, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Amen.