MOVING FORWARD
Philippians 3:13-14
Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
It was late in the day and the sun was dropping below the trees. John and his fishing partner were pulling in all of their gear to head back to camp, which would be a 40 minute boat ride in the dark. As they were reeling in one last big fish struck, then another. The guys decided to take advantage as a rare walleye feeding frenzy.
Before they were done, they had a limit of walleyes and it was dark and they were stuck. To make matters worse the temps were dropping quickly and the wind were picking up. Just above the shore where they were fishing there was an old abandoned trappers cabin and the two men were able to get out of the weather, but they spent a very uncomfortable and sleepless night. If they had kept their focus on the task at hand, they would have had a warm bed and a hot meal instead.
Our lives are filled with regrets of our past lives. There are many things we would change, if we could. Or things that drag us back into the life we had before we started following Christ, the time we had become a new creation.
We need to realize that we can't change the past... we can only do better from this day forward. Sure we can go back and apologize for something we might have said or done that hurt someone, but we can't do it over.
When we've given our life to Christ we are no longer the person we were before. If we truly give Him our heart and soul, we are no longer chained to the sinful past, we are free to move on.
Like that fishing trip, when we stop our forward movement in life, trying to choose between going forward or back the way we came, we will miss the chance at the best that is waiting ahead for us.
Quit looking back at what was in your past. That past has no control over you anymore. But instead consider the joy in a life with Christ. As Paul wrote in verse 14 above... "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
2nd Corinthians 5:17 says it this way... 17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
Move forward with confidence, knowing that the life that you've left behind can't compare to the life that lies ahead. And the life that comes after this life here on earth is unimaginable....
"...forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead..."
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