Jan 14
Memory Problems
Where are they? They had to be here someplace. Think…think! Where did you put them.
My platoon had just returned from our annual war games. They
had lasted a month and were 400 miles from our barracks. Although I was just
out of my teen years I had the common sense to know that during a month of
sleeping in tents with mud floors I might lose my keys, again, like the
previous year. The keys went to my wall
locker, foot locker and another unused wall locker. So I hid the keys somewhere
in the barracks where no one would ever find them. It was a great plan and so
well executed that I never did find those keys.
Our verse
for today does not tell us how to improve our memory. It encourages us to
improve our forgetter. My forgetter works pretty good already, but it could
work better. That doesn’t mean my memory would improve, but rather my forgetter
would forget even more things. That is what Paul is saying Christians should
do. If you are like me, you may not remember people’s names, or why you went to
the grocery store, or other things you need to remember. But chances are you
still remember some uncomfortable moments when you were growing up. Or perhaps
you have memories of a bad experience in a church, which may have happened
years ago. You remember bad things, but can’t remember where you parked your
car at the mall!
Paul could not know what injustices you’ve had.
How someone said something untrue about you. How you were misunderstood and lost
some friends because it. Some pastor may have done or not done something that
irritated you. No one really understands how badly you were treated, so why
does Paul tell you to “fo-get about it!”
None of us have suffered like Paul. Read 2 Cor
11:23-27. There we find a list of his sufferings.
40 lashes 5 times -
Beaten with rods 3 times – stoned once and left for dead – Ship wrecked
3 times – once spent a day and a night floating in the ocean – and his travels
put him in danger of robbers, Jews, heathens, cities, the wilderness, false brethren,
and in addition to all that he had the daily care of all the churches. For most
of us the problems in one church are enough, let alone the kind of churches
Christ mentions in Rev chapter 3.
But in Phillipians he isn’t talking about all the
bad things that happened to him. In the verses from Philippians 3:4-13 he is
listing his many accomplishments. He was circumcised the 8th day, of
the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew, educated enough to be a Pharisee, a zealous
Jew that persecuted the early Christians, and blameless when it came to
following Jewish laws. That kind of resume would get him a job in any
synagogue. But he said they meant nothing to him now, nothing more than
excrement.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win
Christ,
Instead of looking back on all
the bad things that happened or glorying in how wonderful his qualifications
were he wanted to look ahead.
Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind,
and reaching forth unto
those things which are before,
His focus was on the future. That was because
his goal was not to get even for past injustices. Nor did he want recognition
for his great achievements. All he wanted was to be a faithful follower of
Christ.
That is the reason Paul said to stop thinking
about our past hurts and stop thinking we have arrived as one of the best
Christians in our church. Both are like driving a car by staring into the rear
view mirror. If we look at the mirror to continually be reminded of past hurts
it may result in our spiritual injury. Likewise if we stare into the rear view mirror
to admire how nice we look we are bound to have collisions with other people.
Paul did not spend time focused on either past
hurts or present glories. He was looking ahead. It would be good for us meditate
on where we focus our attention and be sure we are looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith.
Php 3:13 Brethren, …this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward
the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
