Some of us are running the Christian race with lead weights wrapped around our ankles and we wonder why we are not growing to be like Jesus or why we are not sensing God’s freedom. We have been carrying a joy stealer! Look at the Apostle Paul’s life - persecuting believers, holding garments for those who stoned Stephen. He could have experienced guilt and shame that would have disabled him, but he chose to shed those weights so that he could move ahead with freedom and joy. His secret is in Philippians 3:13b-14, “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.”
“Forgetting” does not mean that we have amnesia about our past – the hurts, grief, guilt, grudges, shame, and successes; “Forgetting” is choosing to not allow the past to manipulate, control, and have power over us anymore – it means to “let it go.” Isaiah 43:18 says, “Forget the former things. Do not dwell in the past. See, I am doing a new thing.” By forgiving ourselves and the people who have hurt us, we experience freedom from Satan’s paralyzing power of self-condemnation, low self image, victimization, and all of the garbage that we have carried.
While we can learn from the past, Jesus gives us His power to “let it go.”
What do you need to let go? A success that makes you complacent? A hurt, grudge, guilt, or shame that drags you down, gives you a low self image, and robs your joy? Ask Jesus to help you let it go; write the “weight” in a letter and burn it; throw a symbolic rock in a lake to bury it – Freedom comes from looking through the windshield instead of focusing on the rear-view mirror.
Cheering you on ~ Bob
Wow! Said so well. Thank you for expressing what every one of us needs to deal with in some way. Let's move ahead!
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