Forget
Life brings many joys, but it also comes with a good portion of sadness. There are things to remember and things to forget.
The apostle Paul also experienced good and bad times. He had enough negative experiences to forget and plenty of positive experiences to remember, but he decided to leave all his experiences in the past.
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:13-14
As a Pharisee Paul had the chance to achieve leadership and a good life. But he abandoned that life, turning from persecutor to persecuted.
As a believer he evangelized many and became one of the greatest influences of the church. But along with this, he suffered persecution, insults, physical attacks, and at the time of writing this letter, he had an almost certain death sentence.
How is it possible that such a successful leader would like to forget his achievements? We can understand wanting to forget trials, but forgetting achievements? Paul was clear on his goal. Therefore, he could not live in the glories of the victories achieved, nor dwell on past sufferings. For him it was necessary to forget these experiences in order to focus on something much better.
There is no greater goal than the prize of gaining Jesus (v. 7-12). But even Paul’s experiences did not come close to this. There will be nothing more sublime than experiencing Jesus in eternity.
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. – John 17: 3
This was the goal in which Paul was focused. For a goal like this, it’s worth forgetting everything else.
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