Spring Cleaning the Memories that Harm

In the popular song by Barbara Streisand The Way We Were, she said that memories light the corners of my mind.  

It's an interesting way to think about the things we remember.  In a sense, our minds are a vast un-forgettable accumulation of people, events large and small, and myriad impressions that line the attic room of our conscious minds.  The mind is full of things: good, bad, or indifferent,  that we can never forget or maybe should never forget.  The older one gets the fuller the mental attic becomes.  Year after year we keep adding and accumulating more and more stuff that builds up with our collectivee life experience.

The question for us today is simply this: should we spring-clean our minds like we do our homes periodically?  Should we sift through that vast cerebral collection and consider getting rid of some stuff, forever?  For the Christian the answer is an un-equivocal yes!  In fact, its a requirement of the obedient Christian walk!  Listen to what Paul the apostle said in Phil 3:13-14,

But, this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (3:13-14)

As the apostle admonishes us as believers in this passage toward Christlikeness, the act of forgetting becomes critical to being able to make progress and move closer to the goal!  Have you ever really grabbed hold of that truth?  It's important.  Why? Because there is certain spiritual growth that cannot take place until we personally remove the weeds!  Destructive memories of jealousy, hatred, vengeance, promiscuity, etc need to be completely forgotten so the Holy Spirit can plant the fruit of the Spirit in its place.

I remember as a kid, I was often told to go pull weeds in certain areas of the farm.  I quickly learned that if I only broke off the tops, the weeds grew back, and I found myself back out there pulling them again from the roots like I should have the first time.  This is often what happens with destructive memories from our past.  We will never ultimately pull them out by the roots by ignoring them, but rather by deliberately forgetting them once and for all, and moving on!

How about a little spring cleaning?  First of all, we need God's help in this task.  We need to seek His help in putting behind us what needs to be forgotten forever.  Don't miss the fact that we are on a one-way journey.  Once you identify the memories which need discarded, ask God to keep them behind you in your rear-view mirror forever!  If you will keep your end of the bargain, I think you can trust God to keep His.  Let's do some spiritual spring cleaning!