TEXT:
‘No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us’ (Philippians 3:13-14 TLB)
THOUGHT:
New Year: the time to look back and forward. No one could have imagined in 2019 how 2020 would turn out. So it’s with trepidation we wonder what 2021 will bring, especially with new Covid variants causing a surge in infections and deaths, and the imposition of even more restrictive ones.
It is also the time of year to make resolutions: goals to achieve; habits to give up; lifestyles to change. While it is easy to start off with best intentions, so often it ends with failure before the end of January!
I have been impressed how the Apostle Paul faced the future and overcame personal battles within. There are three aspects I want to highlight.
- Forgetting the Past – ‘forgetting those things which are behind us’
2020 is a year most of us want to forget, yet many will find it hard to do so, particularly if they have suffered loss and may end up blaming God. Paul never forgot how he had persecuted the Christians before he became one himself. The past will always rear its ugly head and remind us of past failures, especially when we want to move on.
It is comforting to know that while we can remember our sins, God cannot! ‘For everyone, both great and small, shall really know me then, says the Lord, and I will forgive and forget their sins’ (Jeremiah 31:34 TLB). Let us learn not to bring up the past, unless it is to remember God’s past blessings.
The challenge is to do the same with each other. One of my favourite preachers said, “You cannot unscramble eggs”, but thank God you can make an omelette! God can help us to make something good out of a bad situation.
- Facing up to the Present – ‘I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to—what I hate…Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?’ (Romans 7:15, 24)
Many a leader realises the person they have the most trouble with in their church, is themselves! Reading Romans Chapter 7, I was challenged that Paul wrote it in the present tense. Countless books are written on how someone overcame the battle with the flesh, but Paul did not write one. For him it was a continual present battle, even as an apostle. He did not think he had already attained perfection. He had not arrived but was still on the journey.
This should encourage us to keep going. The carnal mind is at enmity with God, but since it is part of our natural body, we will have a battle with it all the days of our life. Remember that we will always have God’s grace to strengthen us in our weaknesses, each step of the way. That’s why Paul could shout, “I cannot, but He can!” ‘Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 7:24-25).
- Focussing on the Future – ‘reaching forward to the things which are ahead, I press towards the goal’
Paul always had something he wanted to do; whether it was to write another epistle, visit and revisit key workers and churches he had planted, plan evangelistic missions to areas unreached with the gospel or receive fresh revelations about the mysteries of Christ.
What are your goals? Keep focussed on them and do not let past failures, nor present struggles, discourage or divert you from achieving them.
Remember these three things, not just at the beginning of this New Year but throughout 2021.
Forget the Past
Face up to the Present
Focus on the Future
Receive this blessing to help and encourage you to do just that.
‘The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace’ (Numbers 6:24-26)
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