Phlpns 3

Not that I have ... already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: 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. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.

epilanthanomai is the Greek word for "forget" and it carries a very particular definition. It's more than merely "out of sight, out of mind", but the definition also includes ""no longer caring for", to the point of "neglecting" and even :uncared for" and - get this - "given over to oblivion."

And I look at the past year and the trials that have been landsliding into my life, realizing how we Zockolls took them day by day and step by step. You know? So far we've been all right. Now, I want you to know, if I try to conjure up the memories of the physical pain and the bouts of fear we faced, I might get a little gun-shy about the future.

But I am going to make it a concerted effort - by God's grace and leading - that this stuff is cast into oblivion and out of my memory. I gotta move on. And I will. Thank you, Jesus.

You know, epilanthanomai is a very likeable word to me right now. As I see the light of the Lord's joy straming back into our household, bit by bit, I realize that it's time to start picking myself up and seeing Jesus and Jesus alone. I no longer care for the hurts of the past year. I've got the joy of the Savior in my life, leading me.

Good stuff. Very good stuff.

Now praise we Christ, the Holy One,

The spotless virgin Mary's Son,
Far as the blessed sun doth shine,
E'en to the world's remote confine.

"Now praise we Christ, the Holy One." by Martin Luther, 1483-1546
Text From: THE HYMNS OF MARTIN LUTHER (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1883), pp. 18-19