How Do I Let Go?

 

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 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. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. (Philippians 3:12-15 ESV).

 

Perhaps one of the most difficult questions we face in our lives is how we can “forget” those things that keep us from going forward in our growth in the grace of God. In one of his books, Max Lucado tells a story about the late champion boxer Muhammad Ali taking someone to his barn where he stored his trophies and awards. Standing in the doorway, he pointed to his many trophies and said, “It ain’t nothing.” He had come to the conclusion that when all is said and done, his accomplishments meant very little. Centuries earlier, the apostle Paul looked back on his life and on all the things he had been proud of, and he said, “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss. I consider them rubbish.” Paul said this not because he had a debilitating disease like Muhammad Ali but because he had met the Lord Jesus. He was ready to let go of whatever was behind him so that he could serve the Lord and live by the power of the risen Savior.

 

The act of letting go has much more to do with going forward rather than “forgetting” the past. Even in the cases of deliberate and destructive pain inflicted on us through others, we must learn how to simply let go. There is no doubt that these things may have seemed critical at the time, however, continuing to dwell on them only keeps us from going forward. It is as if we get stuck. We become mired in the “slough of despondency” (John Bunyan in Pilgrim’s Progress).

 

The Apostle Paul gives us a critical process to be able to move through the muddy ruts of the past. He says, “…but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers” (v. 13). Notice there are two principles here. First, he intentionally “presses on.” Even when you are bone tired and ready to quit, you mentally command yourself to take another step, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. Second, he acknowledges our ability to do this because we belong to Jesus, “he has made us his own”. What we cannot do on our own, we can do with Him. That is how we let go, and go forward.