The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2Co 5:17b) ESV

A new year has begun with the turn of another page on the calendar. And with the turning of that page it is inevitable that we look back over the past year and assess our lives; the highs and the lows, the memorable and those things we would prefer to forever forget. 

“Just forget about it”, is a phrase we tell ourselves when we want to put something in our past behind us. According to Paul, it's a good thing to do. It’s counsel he followed himself: “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 3:13b-14).  

Paul had a past anyone would want to forget. In his former life as Saul, his Pharisaical zeal had led to the imprisonment, persecution, torture and even death of many Christians. But all of that changed when he came face to face with Jesus on the road to Damascus.

Yet, from his Epistles, we know he wasn’t always successful in “forgetting what was behind.” In those letters he refers to his past sins many times as he explained the change that Jesus had brought about in his life. The sins of his past still haunted him, but even as they did, Paul placed his main focus on Christ and the forgiveness He had won and given to Paul.

Like Paul, we can’t forget about our past sins—and maybe that’s good thing, as long as we remember that Christ has both forgiven and forgotten them!  Remembrance of our sins serves the purpose of keeping us humble and grateful, aware that we walk in God’s ways only as we rely on Him to lead us, thankful that He forgives all our sins, past, present, AND FUTURE. For only then will we not be encumbered by guilt (1 John 3:20).  We can “forget what’s behind” and “press on toward the goal” that Christ has laid out before us as we serve Him using all the gifts He so graciously blesses us with throughout this new year.

We begin this new year in God’s grace. Even as we begin each new day as newly forgiven, cleansed people of God, equipped through Baptism and His Word to fulfill His purposes for our lives. For in those waters and through His Word, daily our old nature is drowned with all its sins and evil desires, and a new man daily emerges and arises to live before God in righteousness and purity forever (Small Catechism). Just as St. Paul reminds us, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Thus in Christ we can forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead, pressing on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us Heavenward in Christ Jesus.

A blessed new year in Christ,
Pastor J. Kevin Wyckoff