Philippians 3:8 TPT “To truly know Him meant letting go of everything from my past and throwing all my boasting on the garbage heap. It’s all like a pile of manure to me now, so that I may be enriched in the reality of knowing Jesus Christ and embrace him as Lord in all of his greatness.”
There are still very stubborn people in our church who hold on to their past through unforgiveness, resentment, and regrets. Remember, on Judgment Day, HE will declare to those in front of Him whether HE knows them or not. Knowing is a two-way relationship of intimacy, and unless you let go of everything, whether past or recent offenses, you will not come to know Him fully. People who boast can also boast about negative experiences of hurt, trauma, or abuse from the past. Scripture considers such boasting a heap of garbage that needs to be thrown away.
If you do not let go of the past, then you will not be able to participate in the resurrected Life of Christ as you will continue to strive in your own strength to be a Christian. You will end up a religious Christian operating in the flesh. People are not able to tap into the resurrected strength of Jesus Christ because they are still living in their past as their identity plays out from their old, unrenewed minds. Such people continue to exhibit their mental childish age even though they may be physically grown adults. They are stuck in their twilight zone. It is a lack of trust in God to save them from their pain. Boasting in the negative experiences has become their comfort as they have come to realize empathy is received from such boasting. Then, it becomes a drug that brings addiction to pity and the like. What is the solution? It is very simple. You must choose to let go and trust in Him. Yes, it is as simple as that! Or continue to be an addict of the flesh.
Pastor Steve Kim