There are things in life we hold onto.
Things that once felt important.
Relationships that once defined us.
Accomplishments that once made us feel worthy.
And yet God calls us forward
Paul understood what it meant to leave the past behind. Before Christ he was a pharisee, someone who dedicated his life to following the law and believed he was righteous in doing so. But when he encountered Jesus everything he had built his life around meant nothing compared to knowing Him.
“Brothers and sisters, 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.” - Philippians 3:13-14
Paul was not pressing toward anything this world could offer. His goal was to know Christ, to become more like him daily, and to follow God’s will for his life. And the only way to reach what God had for him ahead was to stop looking at what was behind him.
And the same is true for you today
Whatever you are holding onto, the hurt, the regret, the relationship, the version of yourself you wish you could come back to, there is nothing back there for you.
But there is everything ahead of you in Him.
Letting go is not something that happens overnight. But like Paul you can decide today to stop dwelling in what was and press toward what God has called you to.
To know Christ is worth leaving everything behind for.