Memory

Memory (by Tom Klink of Prison Discipleship Ministry)

Philippians 3:7 “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”

The Apostle Paul revealed many things he had suffered for the cause of Christ. He suffered things that you and I can’t imagine. However, I think far above the physical suffering that he endured was the constant reminder by Satan of the things that he had done in his past. He was a highly educated man who referred to himself as a “Hebrew of the Hebrews,” as well as a Pharisee, which was an extremely high position.

In his zeal for the law he saw Jesus Christ and His followers as a threat against the law of God, and persecuted unto death those who followed Christ. When Jesus stopped him on the road to Damascus, his life would never be the same. He completely trusted the One whom he had so viciously persecuted, and God used Paul for His kingdom purposes more than any other man.

After we meet Jesus, and turn our trust to Him to save us, and begin to follow Him, our life is never the same. However, the memory of those things from the past is still stirred up in us by Satan to get us to not trust God, and quit. In that, we are no different than any other person, including Paul.

2 Corinthians 12:7 “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”

While many speculate what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” may have been, the sentence structure seems to make it very clear that it was “the messenger of Satan to buffet” him. In other words, it was Satan constantly reminding him of the past, and how God can’t possibly forgive or use him, therefore, he might as well quit.

God allowed that to happen for one reason. Paul writes, “lest I should be exalted” which is pride in all that he had learned about Jesus. We remember things from our past the same way, and just like Paul, God uses it to keep us humble. It is certainly not to define who we are or what we do in the Lord today. Your past doesn’t define who you are today.