{"id":11566,"date":"2022-03-01T19:35:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T19:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?p=11566"},"modified":"2023-06-30T15:00:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T15:00:09","slug":"breaking-free-from-painful-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking Free From Painful Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

There is an old saying that \u201ctime heals all wounds.\u201d The idea is that healing for damaged emotions as a result of traumatic or distressing events happens automatically with the passing of time. The truth, however, is that time alone heals nothing. No matter how much time goes by, unresolved emotional pain <\/a>will not heal by itself; it must be identified (named) and processed (shared with others) accordingly. I want to show that according to Scripture, we must go back and resolve the pain <\/a>from our past in order to move forward into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do this, we must first understand how memory works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the many years I\u2019ve been a pastor, I\u2019ve had people challenge the need to resolve past issues through counseling. To support their point, \u201cno counseling\u201d advocates often refer to Paul\u2019s words in Philippians 3:13-14: \u201cOne thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.\u201d At first glance, it may look like the \u201cno counseling\u201d advocates have a point: Paul seems to commend \u201cforgetting what lies behind.\u201d In order to understand what Paul really means, we must look at the context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\u2019s entire discussion in Philippians 3 is a comparison of his former, self-directed righteousness according to the law with true righteousness that comes from God by faith in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.<\/p>

Philippians 3:4-6<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Paul was a Pharisee who had worked rigorously to uphold the righteous requirements of the law. In fact, he was very proud of the fact that he was blameless (without any fault) in carrying out the letter of the law. The mosaic law said, \u201cYou shall not murder\u201d (Exodus 20:13). Paul never murdered anyone. The mosaic law said, \u201cYou shall not commit adultery\u201d (Exodus 20:14). Paul never committed adultery. The mosaic law said, \u201cYou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor\u201d (Exodus 20:16). Paul never did that either. According to carrying out the letter of the law, Paul was blameless. These acts of legalistic righteousness had been Paul\u2019s trophies, evidence that he was a good Jew, in right standing with God. In other words, before Paul met Jesus, he believed that his relationship with God was secure based on his good works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, after his conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-19), Paul realized that all his good works accounted for nothing. In fact, he refers to his legalistic righteousness as \u201crubbish\u201d (Philippians 3:8). The English word rubbish does not convey the graphic comparison Paul was making. The Greek word translated as \u201crubbish\u201d here, skybala, is used in reference to various kinds of filth, including human excrement.[i]<\/a> Paul is being intentionally graphic, maybe even offensive in his choice of words, but he is making the point that human effort can never produce right standing before God; righteousness can only be received as a gift from God through faith in Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:9-10). By \u201cforgetting what lies behind,\u201d therefore, Paul is not advocating that believers should just move on from the pain of their past; he is arguing that theologically, his previous focus on religious achievement is irrelevant to his right standing with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul does not argue for us to forget past events. As you read Scripture, especially the Old Testament, you will discover that God wants his people to remember their history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[i]<\/a> Mois\u00e9s Silva, The Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary: Philippians (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988), 180.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Ken Baugh<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

was a wildly successful pastor before a crippling experience of burnout disrupted his career and set him on a journey to better understand the dynamics of spiritual health. With a DMin from Talbot Theological Seminary, Ken is the founder and CEO of the Institute for Discipleship Training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
More from Ken<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is an old saying that \u201ctime heals all wounds.\u201d The idea is that healing for damaged emotions as a result of traumatic or distressing events happens automatically with the passing of time. The truth, however, is that time alone … <\/p>\n

Read moreBreaking Free From Painful Memories<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":11568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[613,9],"tags":[306,548],"yoast_head":"\nBreaking Free From Painful Memories | The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"No matter how much time goes by, unresolved emotional pain will not heal by itself; it must be identified and processed accordingly.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking Free From Painful Memories | The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"No matter how much time goes by, unresolved emotional pain will not heal by itself; it must be identified and processed accordingly.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-01T19:35:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-30T15:00:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/03\/krists-luhaers-xbJHiTMl46E-unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Disciplemaker Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Disciplemaker Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/93a9f96b87ecc4b881dfad8ff1633c6a\"},\"headline\":\"Breaking Free From Painful Memories\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-01T19:35:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-30T15:00:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/\"},\"wordCount\":693,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Ken Baugh\",\"Unhindered Abundance\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Christian Beliefs\",\"Know\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking Free From Painful Memories | The Disciplemaker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-01T19:35:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-30T15:00:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"No matter how much time goes by, unresolved emotional pain will not heal by itself; it must be identified and processed accordingly.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Breaking Free From Painful Memories\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\",\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker\",\"description\":\"Bold. Loving. Sensible.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\",\"name\":\"NavPress\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png\",\"width\":4092,\"height\":818,\"caption\":\"NavPress\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/93a9f96b87ecc4b881dfad8ff1633c6a\",\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c80e1df93ad3ab45bbdaa8ee23f7f82?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c80e1df93ad3ab45bbdaa8ee23f7f82?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/author\/jessica\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Breaking Free From Painful Memories | The Disciplemaker","description":"No matter how much time goes by, unresolved emotional pain will not heal by itself; it must be identified and processed accordingly.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Breaking Free From Painful Memories | The Disciplemaker","og_description":"No matter how much time goes by, unresolved emotional pain will not heal by itself; it must be identified and processed accordingly.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/","og_site_name":"The Disciplemaker","article_published_time":"2022-03-01T19:35:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-30T15:00:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/03\/krists-luhaers-xbJHiTMl46E-unsplash.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Disciplemaker Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Disciplemaker Team","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/"},"author":{"name":"The Disciplemaker Team","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/93a9f96b87ecc4b881dfad8ff1633c6a"},"headline":"Breaking Free From Painful Memories","datePublished":"2022-03-01T19:35:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-30T15:00:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/"},"wordCount":693,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization"},"keywords":["Ken Baugh","Unhindered Abundance"],"articleSection":["Christian Beliefs","Know"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/","name":"Breaking Free From Painful Memories | The Disciplemaker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-03-01T19:35:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-30T15:00:09+00:00","description":"No matter how much time goes by, unresolved emotional pain will not heal by itself; it must be identified and processed accordingly.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2022\/03\/breaking-free-from-painful-memories\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Breaking Free From Painful Memories"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/","name":"The Disciplemaker","description":"Bold. Loving. Sensible.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization","name":"NavPress","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png","width":4092,"height":818,"caption":"NavPress"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/93a9f96b87ecc4b881dfad8ff1633c6a","name":"The Disciplemaker Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c80e1df93ad3ab45bbdaa8ee23f7f82?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c80e1df93ad3ab45bbdaa8ee23f7f82?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Disciplemaker Team"},"url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/author\/jessica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11566"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11566"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12333,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11566\/revisions\/12333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}