Forgetting those things which are behind..
FACEBOOK RESURRECTED A POST TODAY THAT'S WORTH REMEMBERING
The Facebook post is below. Let me first say -
The Apostle Paul never said ‘Forgive, and Forget’. That’s not even in the Bible. To totally Forget anything, may be an illusory, or even unhealthy, ideal.
Paul did say - 'Forgetting those things which are behind'..
He didn't make it a command - i.e.. 'FORGET those things which are behind!' Because God wouldn't command us to do the impossible. If it were possible to forget everything we'd like to, there’d be no need for the promise in Isaiah 65:17..
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.
FORGETTING
A healthy mind doesn't totally forget. It can't 'forget'. But as forgiven Christians, we are forever 'forgetting' what is behind.
That means, we continue to put a memory in its proper perspective and don’t call it to mind. That’s what the ‘ongoing form of the verb ‘to forget’ - ‘forgetting is’. The thing is not ‘forgotten’. Our minds were not designed to work that way. It’s that we make up our mind - if it comes up - we put it out of our mind, or back in its file box. This is what Jesus meant when he said we are to - ‘lead every thought captive’. We take our thoughts and control them, rather than let them control us.
When our subconscious suppresses a terrible memory - it still lives beneath the surface and can wreak havoc on a person. Perhaps soldiers suffer this the most. Years ago, while serving active duty on the Korean War desk of DPMO, I used to attend Korean War POW veteran Reunions held yearly around the country. Every year without fail, the POW veterans would show up to ‘resurrect memories’, good and bad, and share them with the only people that could understand, their peer group from the prison camps. This ‘healthy recalling’ is a type of therapy. Many of the vets were able to stay alive, because of this chance to ‘resurrect’ and settle the memories from their time as a prisoner of war.
GREIVING
Grieving is a necessary component of the human heart.
When an Israelite lost a family member, there would be a period of grieving as much as seven days. When the nation of Israel lost a king, or a leader, the grieving period was longer. When Moses died, Israel ‘wept for thirty days’. (Deuteronomy 34:8)
When Jobs comforters came to see him in his distress, they didn’t try to ‘cheer him up’. For the first whole week, 7 days and 7 nights - they just sat quietly with him.
Grieving in fact, is a system for packaging a memory the right way. That it lives in our heart without being destructive.
(That suppressed memories can affect mental health, appears to be how the spiritually dark therapies of Hypnosis and Theosophy won a following. Their premise is to resurrect things stored 'deep in the subconscious mind'. Avoid these occult ‘therapies’.1 There are healthier ways to bring back memories.)
Paul said 'forgetting' because we haven’t necessarily ‘forgotten something’, meaning it can come to mind whether we wish it to or not - so we ‘forget afresh’- making a conscious effort to put it away again.
Not because we 'meditate2', or 'blank out', or ‘erase our recall’. You can't do this without danger. This is the figurative meaning of nature abhors a vacuum. To empty ourselves is as the Lord cautioned - ‘emptying the house’ is an invitation for unwanted visitors. 3
CLOSURE
The best approach, is to take a memory, and find proper closure.
One way is by approaching the originator of the memory and talking it out. (which is not always possible, or advisable) Barring that, a counselor, a friend or pastor might help one to sort out the memory and put it into a perspective, like a file box, where it’s accessible, but no longer a harmful burden.
Sometimes even that isn’t possible, which is when it’s time to take the memory to the Lord for closure.
When we remember the painful things - we can give them up to God to make our peace with them. Sometimes this is done simply by letting Him lead us in the Scriptures to a place of comfort - or a record that reflects ours, which offers the eternal answers to all pain.
This may be an ongoing process. It’s not true that a man can erase totally a painful memory without deceiving himself or others. The information is there, but we can make a choice to leave it stored away - and not let it affect our hearts any longer.
I have given this a lot of thought, as, there are many things I look forward to one day totally forgetting.
Until then, I remember to forgive! The principle thing.
I hope this was helpful. Victoria
HERE’S the POST THAT FACEBOOK REMEMBERED - I’M GLAD THEY DID:
V Christine Bingham
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Talkin to my son the other day, I told him something I thought would be 'news', only to hear him say.. 'Mom, you already told me that the other day".. then - "Mom, I think something's wrong with your memory.. (suggesting ostensibly that I was getting .. O--".)
To which I replied.. "Nonsense son, Why 30 years ago Sean (an old friend) was already calling me the 'Absent Minded Professor". HAH!
Then I told Nick, my Forgetfulness is my best ASSET! I have forgotten in my life a LOT of things.
I have forgotten the unkind acts of people, The slings and arrows of my siblings, and parents, The screaming in my face of men 'of God', The witch hunts of saints that sought to drag me through the mire, I have forgotten the patronizing comments and the insults hurled at me; I have forgotten the cold depth of abandonment I have felt when people that I have helped disappeared in the wake of it; I have forgotten to be angry, or disappointed, or bitter. These things never come to mind unless I make a concerted effort to remember them, and even then, I have a hard time remembering the details.
I have 'forgotten those things which are behind.. and daily press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Because HE's UNForgettable.
Halleluljah! Amen.
Theosophy is an occult ‘new age’ religious movement based on mysticism and Buddhism; Reincarnation is a premise of Theosophy. Hypnosis is to ‘therapy’ what psychotropic medications are to drugs - they both crack open the mind, for the entrance of demonic presences and influences.
We are to ‘meditate on His Word’ (Psalm 1:2 and Josuha 1:8) because this is not emptying our mind, it is rather FILLING it with God's thoughts.
On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first.”… Luke 11:25, 26