Php 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
“Don’t pick the scab!!” I can remember my grandmother telling me that over and over. But, at least for guys there’s a certain fascination with scab picking.
However, doing so can delay healing and provide an opportunity for infection.
There’s little difference between knees, elbows, hearts and minds. We get booboos large and small. Some leave scars, some don’t. Some take stitches some can be butterflied.
In the context of this passage Paul is comparing what was with the hope he carries in Christ. Certainly you and I need to work on making the hope before us mightier than the pain behind but, contrary to a lot of my collegues I don’t buy the idea that we are to “forget,” as we commonly use the term.
Barring some serious form of denial or some strange type of amnesia we are just not going to forget. Not gonna happen! Besides, that’s not what Paul is talking about.
The word “forget” that he uses is the Greek word ἐπιλανθάνομαι / epilanthanomai. It has more to do with our focus than forgetting. “Given over,” or “uncared for,” are perhaps the best way to view this term. We, “steal its thunder,” so to speak.
Paul’s point in this passage is one of comparative value. For him, everythying and anything from his past is uncared for or given over when held to the light of the love of God. For him, it is not worth consideration as a factor today.
When compared to the “big BUT” ((Romans 8)) nothing is of value.
This is not about denying or disrespecting things that have happened to us (horrible or healthy). It is about making a choice as to which is of greater value and power in our lives.
The chorus, “Nothing compares to the promise I have in You,” is the choice we need to work on making. Whenever we’re tempted to pick the scab or whenever the scars itch or whenever the old injury flairs up we need to stop and prayerfully make that choice. BUT – remember it is not a decision to dismiss the memory – rather it is a choice to put it in its proper place.
We have to remember that we are going somewhere. We are following Him. We carry a lot of baggage. Some of it is easy to drop – some, not so much. But we need to prayerfully and consistently choose the promise and focus on it as well as we can at the moment.
Our wounds will act up. We may work long and hard at healing. But heal we will. Picking the scab, obsessing on the wound or excessively mourning the injury can only delay healing.
The key perhaps is that the trauma “happened,” – past tense. “It” is over. You have survived, you are the victor and He was the one who carried you through. Let Him define you, not the past.
Don’t pick the scab.
2Co 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, (4) who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (5) For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
Sheepdog
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