What We Carry With Us/What We Leave Behind 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 One of the most difficult, and strangely energizing parts of life is starting over. As creatures of habit, we have this knack for learning some bad ones, whether intentionally or by neglect. And when we sit at the cusp of the new, everything within us screams to redefine. In our hearts, we want to be new, and yet something in our minds screams that we will never be new – that this year will be the same as last year which was the same as the year before that. But when I look at scripture, there is nothing more biblical that the idea that we can be new. Paul shows us how in these defining verses of his life. Take it from a man who morphed from one who’s life was defined by persecuting and taking lives to one who offered the life of Christ to the ends of the earth; we can be new. By the grace of God, we can change. Paul is the poster child for carrying the right stuff with us, while leaving other stuff behind. And the fulfillment or futility of the rest of our lives will be defined by these two questions: What did we carry with us? What did we leave behind? When Saul was persecuting the church, he was doing the wrong thing with great single-mindedness and passion. While by the grace of God he left the persecution and murder behind (and the overwhelming guilt that had to accompany it), he continued to carry his purpose and passion into his life as a Christ-follower. He says, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” There were things in Paul’s past that he would change if he could. The problem was he couldn’t. And while Jesus had changed Paul, Paul couldn’t change the past. The only thing he could do was forget what was behind and strain for what was ahead. And by living this way, what he did was change the world. So the man responsible for Saint Stephen’s death was also responsible for writing nearly half of the New Testament. So may we realize that our God specializes in changing people’s lives and destinies. And may we take advantage of the new beginning he has offered to us in 2015 and forget what is behind so that we can strain toward what is ahead. And may God give us the wisdom to know what to carry with us and what to leave behind us.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 19:54:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015