Jesusluvsall's Blog

We all have things in our past that we regret. There are those memories that can haunt us at times. We also have an opponent who tries to remind us of our past failures.

Holding on to past successes and living in old “glory days” can also hinder us from fully experiencing the blessings of living for God in the present.

I watched a video on youtube yesterday of a successful football coach talking about working to be better each day than the day before. As I watched him talk, I thought about what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:

“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.”

Paul was arguably the apostle who excelled the most in reaching others for Jesus. He started churches all over the Roman world. He has by far the most letters, epistles, that are in the New Testament of all the apostles.

In a worldly sense Paul was a success before he came to know Jesus, but there is one thing in his past that could have haunted him. He had memories of persecuting Christians in the early days of the church. He had them put in jail and some executed like Stephen. So for Paul to write that one thing he did was forgetting what is behind includes his past success and his past sins.

We can learn from his example of forgetting what is behind and pressing on to the future of what God has called us to. By doing so we can avoid the if only thinking such as if only I hadn’t ___________________, then _______________ or if only I had done _____________, then ________________. You can fill in the blanks.

If only thoughts can hold us back. Past memories can hold us back if we let them. With Jesus we have an eternal future. Friends let us try to follow Paul’s example and leave the past behind us and focus on the future calling of Jesus.

Thank you for reading. God Bless 🙂