“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” Phil. 3:8
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:12-14
I used to un-bury corpses. In fact, if I’m not extraordinarily careful, I’m perfectly capable of quickly reverting to this old habit of mine. Sounds awful, disgusting, depressing, and dangerous, doesn’t it? And perhaps you can’t fathom that I used to do something like this. But please hear me out. Is it possible you can relate?
I didn’t go sneaking around graveyards digging up corpses. I spent decades of my life living in the past, continually taking everything and everyone I needed to let go and blatantly, vehemently refusing to let go. Whatever, and whomever, belonged in the past, because someone had walked away, a relationship had ended, someone had died, a dream was gone, a hope never happened, a wish had not been fulfilled, a prayer had not been answered, a friendship was over, a season of my life had come to an end, etc., I spent much if not most of my time grieving, mourning, feeling sorry for myself, dragging plenty of other people down with me, and desperately trying to “unbury the corpse” and resurrect what clearly was over and done with – what clearly was dead.
Sometimes the Lord resurrects something that seems over and done with, but there are times He simply wants us to let go and move on. In my case, more often than not, the Lord wanted me to let go and move on, yielding my heart and life to Him and letting His Spirit lead me forward to wherever, and to whomever, He wanted me to go, most importantly closer and closer to Him, deeper and deeper in relationship with Him, becoming more and more like Him as He continued, and continues, to refine me and conform me to Christ.
I believe the Lord makes it clear when He wants us to let go and move on. But sometimes we disobey Him, and rebel against Him, and don’t trust Him, and are angry at Him, or any number of things such that we dig in our heels, stay stuck right where we are, our hearts and eyes glued to the past, trying to dig up corpses of what once was, what no longer is, of what we need to release so we are entirely free to place our trust in Him and walk forward where He leads us.
We may grieve over what, or whom, is no more, and there is no comfort like the Lord’s, but even grief has its season and can be relinquished in the Lord’s time.
If you’ve been living in the past as I once did, and you’re clear the Lord is prompting you to let go, please do. Let go, take the Father’s awesome hand in yours, place your heart in His tender care, surrender yourself to Him through Jesus, and let Him order your steps, step by step, that He bring you forward to wherever He desires to lead you – most importantly, yes, closer and closer to His most magnificent glorious heavenly almighty self!