Forgotten, Forgiven, Freed

Lenn Zeller, Director of Conference Care

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do: 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.
Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)

I have never been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, probably because I never seem to keep them very long. If I had lost all the pounds I promised myself to lose over the years, I’d have disappeared totally from the face of the earth a long time ago. The problem, I guess, is not with the concept of resolutions itself, but with my own lack of discipline!

Nevertheless, Paul’s advice in the passage above is sound. Why don’t we just forget what is behind? Let’s put aside the failures of the past and the resulting disappointment and loss of confidence. As Thomas Edison once said … “If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward.”

Let’s forgive those real or perceived offenses and betrayals and treacheries that hang over us with a cloud of anger and sadness, and just let them go. After all, Christ has forgiven us so much more than we will ever bear from others! Let’s leave behind our demand to win, our craving to always be right and get our way, and let’s determine to honestly listen to the ideas and positions of others with an open mind; not necessarily always agreeing, but at least hearing and understanding. So much of the conflict that goes on in families, workplaces and churches has to do with power and the demand to get our own way. Let’s put that aside long enough to humbly hear others and understand the often very good insights they bring to the table. And let’s be willing to at least reconsider those age old traditions that served us so well in the past, but perhaps are no longer relevant in today’s culture. Let’s not just keep doing things because “we’ve always done them that way,” and be willing set aside customs and practices that no longer relate to people today and that do little to build the Kingdom of God.

And then, freed from the luggage of the past, let’s press on toward the calling God has for us as individuals and as congregations. Why continue to allow the past to drag us down like a ball and chain? Let it go already! God has so much more in mind for us than that! One thing I have sincerely appreciated about our Conference is the willingness of our leadership to be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. As long as I have been involved in the CCCC, and that’s been more than twenty years now, I have appreciated the desire to hear the Word and calling of God, and the humble willingness to follow His leading wherever that may take us. In recent years that has led to some significant shifts in focus and even organizational structure. And we’re not finished yet, not by any means. But, as the apostle Paul said, we …”press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus.” God only knows where that will take us in coming months and years. I, for one, am excited about the possibilities!