There's a story about a man who was slowly losing his memory. After an examination, the doctor said that an operation on his brain might reverse his condition and restore his memory. However, the surgery would be so delicate that a nerve might be severed, causing total blindness.

"What would you rather have," asked the surgeon, "your sight or your memory?" The man pondered the question for a few moments and then replied, "My sight, because I would rather see where I am going than remember where I have been."

In Philippians 3 the apostle Paul made the same choice spiritually. His past, with its success and its shame, he chose to forget. What mattered to him most was keeping his eyes on the goal of gaining Christ's approval.

That kind of mindset is one sure mark of Christian maturity. It's what God is working to develop in our lives (Phil. 3:13-15). We can't forget our past, of course, but we don't have to live in it. Any good we may have done is from God, so we can only be thankful. When we confess our sins, they are buried in the deepest sea. Let's not keep dredging them up.

What do you choose? To see or to remember?  — Dennis J. De Haan