Living His WordSýnishorn

After the Apostle Paul’s conversion experience, he began to “press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” What did Jesus take hold of him for? It was 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” (Philippians 3:10-11). It was, in other words, to know the fullness of what it means to live, suffer, die, and be raised from the dead in Christ Jesus. Although he had not yet taken hold of it in its fullness, it was the goal toward which he pressed on so that once he reached it he would “win the prize” that God had waiting in heaven for him.

Before “straining toward what is ahead,” Paul had to forget “what is behind.” What he had in mind here is not reflection on the past in general, but only that which keeps one from pressing on into the future. As a former persecutor of the church, of course, Paul had more problematic memories than most.

It would be easy to imagine Paul going over and over in his mind the atrocities he visited on the church. It would be easy to imagine him consumed with regrets. That kind of remembering the past, however, is precisely what should be left behind, because it can keep you from going forward. Further, it needs to be left behind because it implicitly assumes that the atoning work of Jesus Christ never happened.

If regrets have you going over and over the past in futile quests to resolve them on your own, then consider that God remembers your sin no more (Isaiah 43:25). If God Himself can forget your sins, there is no reason for you to allow ugly memories to torment you and hinder you from pressing on into the future.