What the Bible Says About Letting Go – Philippians 3:13

The past can feel real. Like something you can touch. Sometimes it’s a warm blanket, a memory you pull close. Other times, it’s just dead weight. A heavy chain you drag around, clanking with the noise of old regrets, deep hurts, and painful failures. We all know we should move on. Everyone tells us to. Our own tired hearts plead with us to. But how do you actually do it? It’s simple to say “let it go.”

It’s a whole other thing to live it out. If that’s your struggle, you are not alone. It’s a human struggle. Thankfully, the Bible offers more than just shallow advice. The answer to what the Bible says about letting go is packed with hope, especially in the words of the Apostle Paul.

He gives us a spiritual game plan, a way out of the prison of yesterday. In a moment of raw honesty, he writes: “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, NIV). That’s not a greeting card platitude. It’s a battle plan. It’s the key to unlocking a future free from the weight of what’s behind you.

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Key Takeaways

• Letting Go is a Choice: The Bible teaches that “forgetting what is behind” isn’t about getting amnesia. It’s an active, daily decision to move forward. It takes work.
• Your Past is Paid For: For a believer, past sins aren’t just swept under the rug; they are paid for and redeemed by Jesus. This truth is the very foundation for letting go.
• A Future Goal Pulls You Forward: True letting go isn’t just running from the past. It’s about running toward something amazing—a deeper life in Christ and the promise of heaven.
• Stay Humble: Even the great Apostle Paul said he hadn’t “arrived.” This humility is key. It stops us from getting lazy with our past wins or being paralyzed by our past losses.
• Focus is Everything: The best way to release the past is to get completely absorbed in what lies ahead. Your focus determines your direction.

What Does It Even Mean to ‘Forget What Is Behind’?

Let’s be real. Is Paul telling us to just wipe our memories clean? To pretend the past, with all its good, bad, and ugly parts, simply didn’t exist? No. That’s not forgetting. That’s denial. Biblical “forgetting” isn’t about erasing the memory; it’s about breaking its power. It’s a conscious choice to stop letting old events define who you are today or decide where you’re going tomorrow.

It’s like driving a car. You have a massive windshield for the road ahead and a tiny rearview mirror for what’s behind. That little mirror is useful for a quick glance, to see where you’ve been. But what happens if you stare into it? You’ll crash. Paul is telling us to stop staring into the rearview mirror. Glance at the past, learn from it, but then snap your attention back to the road ahead. Forgetting what is behind means refusing to let it steer your life anymore.

But What If My Past Is Full of Regret?

Regret is a special kind of heavy. It’s the endless loop of “what if” and “if only.” I know that loop well. I once poured several years of my life, my heart, and all my savings into a business I was sure was my calling. Then it failed. Completely. It wasn’t just a financial hit; it felt like a verdict on me as a person. I was stuck. For months, my first thought every morning was the wreckage in my rearview mirror. I replayed every mistake, every wrong turn. I was so fixated on the crash behind me that I couldn’t see any road in front of me. Regret had me paralyzed.

Philippians 3:13 became my lifeline. I had to choose to “forget” that failure. Not pretend it didn’t happen, but stop letting it define me. My identity wasn’t “failed entrepreneur.” My identity is in Jesus, who makes all things new (2 Corinthians 5:17). I had to release the outcome to God and trust that His plan was still good, even if the last chapter was a painful read. It was a fight, every single day, to turn my gaze from the mirror to the windshield. With every choice, the chain of regret got a little lighter.

Is It Really Possible to Let Go of Deep Hurts?

Regrets are one thing. Wounds from other people are another. Betrayal. Cruel words. Injustice. These things leave more than scars; they can leave open wounds. Letting go can feel like you’re saying it was okay. Like it didn’t matter. But that is not what the Bible asks of us. Letting go of a hurt isn’t about excusing the wrong or pretending it didn’t hurt.

It’s about choosing freedom for yourself.

Holding onto bitterness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It only eats you up from the inside. I learned this from a friendship that ended in a sharp betrayal. For a long time, my anger felt right. It felt like a shield. I replayed the wrong over and over, feeding my bitterness until it was part of me. It started to taint my other relationships and poison my prayers. I was trapped, and the person who hurt me was living rent-free in my head. Letting go felt like defeat. But I finally saw that I was the only one losing the battle. Giving that hurt to God was the only path to my own healing.

How Does Forgiveness Play a Role in Letting Go?

You can’t truly let go of a deep hurt without forgiveness. Forgiveness is the master key. It’s the only thing that unlocks the chains of bitterness. Jesus was crystal clear about this. When Peter asked if he should forgive someone seven times, Jesus said to forgive seventy times seven. He told a story about a man forgiven of an impossible debt who then refused to forgive a small debt someone owed him. The point is stunning: we forgive because we have been forgiven an infinite debt by God.

Our forgiveness is a response to His. It isn’t even mainly for the other person’s benefit. It’s an act of obedience to God. It can be a brutal, gut-wrenching process. I get that. But it’s the only way to find peace. Forgiveness in real life often looks like this:

• Name the Pain: Be honest with God. Tell him exactly what happened and how much it hurt. Don’t downplay it.
• Choose to Forgive: Forgiveness starts as a decision, not a feeling. Your emotions might take a long time to catch up. Choose to obey God by releasing the person from the debt.
• Cancel the Debt: This is the heart of it. You are making a conscious choice to let go of what you feel they “owe” you—an apology, justice, anything. You hand the debt over to God. He is the only righteous judge.
• Pray for Them: This is the hardest part. It feels unnatural. But praying for God to bless the person who hurt you is what truly breaks the power of resentment and changes your own heart.

Why Does Paul Say He Hasn’t ‘Taken Hold of It Yet’?

This is a wild statement. If anyone had a right to say they’d “arrived” spiritually, it was Paul. He was a spiritual giant. Yet he says, “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.” This is a critical piece of letting go that we often miss. We think letting go is just about bad things.

But sometimes you have to let go of your successes, too.

There’s a real danger in resting on past accomplishments. They can become a hammock that makes you lazy. I remember a time in my life, long after college, when I was still telling my old football stories. It was more than nostalgia. I was clinging to a past version of myself, a time when I felt important. Without even realizing it, I was letting a past victory keep me from fighting for new growth.

I was polishing an old trophy instead of running the race right in front of me. Paul’s humility is the cure. The Christian life isn’t a trophy case. It’s a marathon we’re still running. The second we think we’ve “arrived,” we stop running. Letting go of past wins keeps us humble, hungry, and desperate for God.

So, What Are We Supposed to Be ‘Straining Toward’?

Paul’s strategy has three parts. 1. Know you haven’t arrived. 2. Forget what’s behind. 3. Strain for what’s ahead. That third part is the engine. You can’t just ditch the past; you have to be consumed by a better vision for the future. So what is this “what is ahead”?

It’s more of Jesus. That’s it. It’s a deeper, richer life with the living God. It’s the daily, moment-by-moment process of becoming more like Him. We are straining for a heart that loves what He loves. A mind that thinks like He thinks. A life that looks like His. It’s not about hitting some level of spiritual perfection. It’s about the joyful, relentless pursuit of Jesus himself. The more captivated you are by Him, the less interesting the past becomes.

What is ‘The Prize’ Paul is Pressing on Toward?

It all comes together here: “…I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” This isn’t a random walk in the park. It’s a race. There’s a finish line. And there’s a prize. This is our motivation. We aren’t just emptying our hands of past junk to have empty hands. We’re emptying our hands to grab hold of the prize God has waiting.

So what is the prize? It’s the finish line of our salvation. It’s hearing the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” It’s receiving the crown of righteousness. Ultimately, it’s being with Jesus forever, whole and healed. As scholars at institutions like Dallas Theological Seminary explain, this upward call changes everything about our life now. The prize changes our perspective. Failures become lessons. Hurts become places where God’s grace shines. Successes become small tastes of the glory to come. When your eyes are locked on a prize that big, everything in the rearview mirror starts to look very, very small.

How Can I Practically ‘Press On’ Every Day?

Knowing this stuff is one thing. Living it on a tough Monday morning is another. “Pressing on” isn’t a feeling. It’s a thousand small choices that, over time, steer your life in a new direction. Here are a few ways to get practical:

• Start Your Day with Release: Make it the first thing you do. Say it out loud if you have to: “God, I give you yesterday. Its failures are covered by your blood. Its successes are for your glory. Today is a new day. Help me run my race.” This sets your heart on the truth that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).
• Pray Forward: It’s easy to let our prayers be all about current problems. Try changing that. Start praying for the strength and wisdom you need for the road ahead. Ask God to give you a burning passion for the prize.
• Feed Your Focus: What you feed your mind, you focus on. If you constantly think about past hurts, you’ll stay stuck. Instead, flood your mind with God’s promises for your future. Read Scripture about your new identity, the hope of heaven, and God’s power for today.
• Find Your Running Partners: Nobody runs a marathon alone. You need to be around other believers who are also “pressing on.” Find friends who will force you to look forward, remind you of the prize, and pick you up when you fall.

Letting go is a tough journey. It’s not a one-and-done decision. It is a daily choice to believe that what God has for you in the future is so much better than what you’re clinging to from the past. Philippians 3:13 is an invitation. It’s an invitation to drop the chains of yesterday and run with freedom toward the incredible prize God has for you in Christ Jesus. The road is clear. It’s time to run.

FAQ – What the Bible Says About Letting Go

Jurica Sinko

Jurica Sinko leads Ur Bible as its main author. His writing comes from his deep Christian faith in Jesus Christ. He studied online at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS). He took courses in the Bible and theology.

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