Because of the grace and power of God, our future is not determined by our past. God doesn't want our vision of the future to be limited by the shadow of the past. God's desire for us is that we walk free of the past in the present peace and power that comes from faith and trust in Him. God's vision of our future is so much more and better than we could ever dream on our own.
Forgetting and forgiveness go hand in hand, whether it is forgiving ourselves or others. When we forgive, we must forget. Now obviously forgiveness doesn't erase memory. Some hurts and mistakes may not ever be truly forgotten, but to forget can also mean to choose not to bring something to mind. We can choose to forsake what is behind, refusing to dwell and meditate on the past, and that is just as much forgetting as being unable to recall something.
Forgiving our past and choosing to think instead on what is good and true, especially about what we have been taught and the things of God is the key that opens the door to freedom from the past and to the promises and blessings of God.
Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:12-14
The past is a chain the enemy uses to keep us shackled to misery, defeat, and spiritual ineffectiveness. God has made all things new though, and that includes the future. We forget the past in that we stop looking at it in the negative way that causes it to be a weapon we wield against ourselves, but that past doesn't disappear. It, like our future, is transformed by God. The past becomes a tool to give us victory and to help others instead of a chain to keep us bound. It becomes the word of our testimony that coupled with the blood of Christ brings us the power to overcome our spiritual enemies.
Paul had to release his past identity as Saul, a persecutor of Christians, in order for him to move forward in the ministry to which God called him. But when it would be beneficial he brought up what happened so that the change that had taken place would testify to all of God's love and power and grace. That is what can happen with our past as well. When we come into relationship with God, we receive a new identity in Him, through Him. We are no longer who we once were. So we are no longer a result of our past but a new creature, God’s mercy and grace are new every day.
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
-1 Timothy 1:12-16
It's God's will that we remember what He has done for us, the forgiveness, grace and mercy He has showered on us and to focus on the miraculous transformation of caterpillar to butterfly rather than on the life and diet of the caterpillar. God chooses not to remember our sins. Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. If God no longer holds our past against us, neither should we.
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