REMEMBER TO FORGET

The Major League Baseball season has started and my Seattle Mariners already appear to be out of the playoff picture after 13 games. Ugh! One of the unique things about baseball is it’s the only sport I can think of where you can “fail” 7 out of 10 times and be considered successful, given a hitter with a .300 batting average is doing pretty good. When it comes to pitching, it’s a given the pitcher will give up an occasional walk and if he can average less than 4 runs per nine innings, he will have a job for a long time and make bank. I’ve heard the term “short memory” applied to baseball more than any other sport. After a hitter has struck out or a pitcher has given up a game winning hit, they have to be able to put the experience out of their mind as quickly as possible. If they don’t they won’t last long in the league. When my older brother, Calton, played Little League baseball he went a whole season without ever swinging the bat. Whether it was a fear of striking out or what, I am not entirely sure. It was a pretty good strategy though because he usually walked, stole second and sometimes even third, and scored lots of runs for his team. 

The Bible encourages us to REMEMBER and FORGET. It may seem like a contradiction, but there is a clear purpose in each. In Psalm 77:11 David says, (NIV) “I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.” Then Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians: (NLT) 3:13 “I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all of my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead…” So which is it, should we remember or forget? Even more specifically, what should we remember and forget?

To use baseball as a word picture, what we remember is getting the key hit or making the big pitch. What we forget is striking out in the bottom of the ninth inning with bases loaded to end the game or our zero hits in the previous game. If, instead, we choose to focus on our failures it’s possible and even probable it will hinder us going forward. I think the best approach is to learn from our failures, and then do our best to forget them. Today is a new day and a new opportunity.

When we get in a mental funk, at least when I do, there’s a tendency to do the opposite of what is best: We remember our failures and forget all the good God has done in and through our lives. We get caught up giving way too much brain time and energy to whether our future will bring more failure or frustration. In Philippians 3:13 I get the idea that Paul was actually “looking forward”, in a very hopeful way, to the future. “Forgetting the past” for him included a long list of good and bad things. I am sure he was grounded enough to know that in his future there’d be more challenges to be faced (C’mon, he wrote this letter from jail,), yet he was anticipating the good things to come. 

It’s very important to understand what Paul identified as the goal of his life: 3:8 (NLT) “the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus.” Wow, that impacts me! It provokes me to consider where and how I am spending my energy. There are so many things demanding our attention each and every day. There are so many activities which crowd our calendar.  I need to make certain that in all of my seeking I am seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33).

I need to remember to forget. I need to get better at forgetting the failures and frustrations of the past, and looking at the future with fresh eyes of faith. I never want to forget the faithfulness and goodness of God, nor will I allow a mental funk to diminish my memories of all that He has done.

Since we’ve been looking at Paul’s letter to the Philippians there are two others verses I want to bring to your attention:

2:13 (NLT) “For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.”

4:13 (NLT) “For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.”

So, REMEMBER TO FORGET. You may have struck out yesterday, but I’ve got a feeling you’re going to hit a game-winner today!