“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 3:13-14)

Trying to put the past behind us can be a very difficult task. We tend to want to hold on to our baggage or we simply struggle to let go. We are told in scripture to lay our burdens at Christ feet, but then we feel the need to pick them up again.

Why is this our human condition? Maybe part of it is due to some sense of responsibility. We have made our mistakes and instead of learning from them we carry them around from place to place. We become broken by what we have experienced and healing is difficult if not impossible.

This is not how God meant us to live.

Look, I have made my share of mistakes in life. I too have carried them with me as if it were these were my cross to bear. This is not the cross Christ spoke of.

Christ came to lighten our burden and to bear the cross for us. The cross we bear is to die to our sins daily. To be willing to die for the cross we bear.

We must learn to put our past behind us, straining for what is ahead.