Desk of Dennis Piller
2/11/2022
Disciplined Forgetfulness
I was so elated to see our turnout this week at Courageous. I thought of how great is our God to love us through our host of imperfections. To love us as we stumble back into his house, battered, torn, disabled, fallen, and looking for the bread of life. We are so undeserving but he makes us deserving. So imperfect but he makes us righteous through the sacrifice of Jesus himself. Listen to Paul,
“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. [I am not the glorified man I want to be.] 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)
What does he do in the face of all his many imperfections? He presses on. “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on.” This is a picture of godly and ambitious imperfection in Christ — not clinging to a sense of self-righteousness or wallowing in the pit of self-pity, but pressing on to know more of Christ, to enjoy more of Christ, to live more like Christ.
I know that’s uncomfortable. But I want that? Do you have the "want to’s"? That inkling, that hunger within to press into all of God? As we read his word he gives us the want… to press in. he gives us the "want to's" to be more like him. As we press in to be with other like-minded men, he gives us more desire to forget what lies behind and the love of God to desire and yes even yearn for what lies ahead. Jesus is the prize. Jesus is the Goal! We have the privilege the world cannot comprehend of pursuing holiness. Ouch, it is so easy to say, but I could never be that! That word doesn’t rest well on my lips. Let's talk about something that is more relatable to me…more realistic for my mind.
And I say NO.
He said these times would be uncomfortable. They would be unnerving but he says to press on… Stop letting your old thoughts fog your future. Take every thought captive. 2 cor 10:4 Stain forward… keep taking the steps, however small you assume they are, for they are movements to God. Be aggressive in your pursuit, stay uncomfortable, and you will breakthrough by the power of his Holy Spirit will come.
Paul was clear in his words earlier in this chapter regarding his attempts at self-righteousness. He mocked God by the way he lived. He mocked God by his own attempts at goodness and justification. (not so different than us.) Philippians 3:5–6). He knows how sinful he once was: “I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” (1 Timothy 1:13). But grace broke through his hardness, interrupted his defiance, and led him to Jesus (1 Timothy 1:13–15). So what would he do now with the evil he had done? He consciously leaves it behind.
That is what we are beginning to do now when we meet in our groups. We come to see in a sharper, clearer light our imperfections, our past mistakes, sins, and awful memories that can truly haunt us. Satan berates you as a hypocrite, how could you, you are so unworthy to even join a group of “Christians”.
Look, we all carry the memories and the scars of shameful sins, some of us have wallowed in the pit of darkness so long we are sure it is a stench in the nostrils of God that he can never forget. BUT HE HAS. They are ALL washed under the blood of Christ. You are forgiven. Satan will hand out despair to us like gumdrops. He is the accuser. Rev 12:10 he wants us to forget all that would lift and satisfy our souls. So Paul tells us “ 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)
One thing I do… I join with my Christian brothers and sisters so I can walk together with them. I can be there when they stumble and fall and they can be there to encourage me too.
Remember that anything…Anyone or any thought, that causes us to question God’s love for us, is not of God. It is a lie to keep you trapped in your old life, your old thoughts, and your old beliefs. To defy Satan we must LEARN to forget what God has already forgiven.
(As far as the east is from the west…Forgiven!)
Press on my friends. Press on. The Prize is so Worth It!
You Raise me Up. Only Men Aloud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88RUGzmxOdA&list=RDVhrxRccU3Lw&index=3
