LETTING GO OF THE PAST

Phil 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.

 

Here we are at the last day of the year 2012. At the end of each year, I have gone through a routine over the past 30 years to evaluate my past year. I compare what I have accomplished with respect to the goals I had set before the New Year to see what I could have done differently or better.

 

Inevitably I find several things that I thought were of value were not and things I didn’t consider were valuable. I almost always find things that were obstacles that hindered my ultimate goal and purpose in life. I also find many things that came to me from experiences, people and life that attached themselves to me.  Call them spirits, ideas, feelings, memories or failures.

 

I have found after 40 years that many of these “attachments” often pile up and cause a combination effect that drags me down with preoccupation of stuff that does more harm than good. These “attachments” the Bible calls us to “forget.” Simply, we must “let go” of those things that are in our past that hinders us. I know it is easier said than done. So allow me to suggest a few things or ways to “Letting go of the past.”

 

#1 Forget means to place in a hidden place or to consider it ignorant or of less value. True we do not possess the power to wipe out of our mind the memory of bad things in our past, but we can place a value mark of it in our mind. Take everything that God’s word has labeled destructive or bad for your divine purpose and label it ridiculous, ignorant or stupid. By doing this, you put a “Value” mark of worthlessness upon that experience, issue, hurt or thing from your past.

 

#2 Forget means to put it behind you. Please get this: Putting those things in your past means to put it out of your fore thought – your focus – your directive. Take everything that was bad for you and remove it from your forward sight that it no longer becomes your primary vision. Do not allow those things that have made you less than what God has designed for you to lead you, define you or control you. Forget it! Put it behind you and make your failures, pains and troubles push you instead of control you.

 

© 2012 Dr Tim McClure