Looking Forward
“No, dear friends, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to strain to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:13-14 (NLT)
My husband and I sometimes watch the new TV drama, Unforgettable. The main character in this series is one of few people in the world who has the daunting ability to never forget a single detail in her life. Sometimes I think this ability would be great to have since these days I forget why I walked into a room in the first place. Then again it would be exhausting at times to know that you have so much “stuff” locked up inside your head and as much as you may try you cannot get rid of all that “stuff” that just really does not matter at all. Of course my husband commented that he would feel sorry for her spouse!
Seriously though, it made me think about the useless and unnecessary “stuff” I keep in my brain. I can forget what I just ate for dinner, but when my husband and I have a disagreement I am quick to bring up something he said 20 years ago!
Satan, the deceiver, is quick to bring to our minds our past mistakes and failures. He knows exactly what our weaknesses are and if we allow him, he will keep us focused on those weaknesses so we cannot move forward in our lives. We begin to doubt if we will ever get out of a certain situation or circumstance so we will eventually give up.
In the above scripture, Paul reminds us that since our hope is in Christ, we are to let go – forget those things that are past (even if it was just yesterday) and look ahead to what God will do in our lives. We are not to dwell on our past mistakes and failures, but instead we are to grow in our knowledge of God by focusing on our relationship with Christ now – this moment. We need to realize that we are forgiven then move forward to a life of faith and obedience to His Word. Each day when we awake, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us keep our focus on Christ. In so doing we can look forward to a fuller and more meaningful life because our hope is in Christ and not ourselves or others.
Amen sweet sis, amen.
What a wonderful encouragement to not look back at our past failures. It is so true though that sometimes we look back to things many, many years ago.
Thank you Michele for the reminder to look forward.