Php 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)
Another year soon in the past,
Time moves by it seems so fast.
We often forfeit our greatest gift
Our life, our time, our joy so swift.
We look behind to see our life
That we might change and mend aright.
The things we’ve done that’s not so good
To do them over if we could.
But we know the past is gone
Our life, our time, our work moves on.
To do the things we ought to do
To build, to mend our love so true.
So we don’t count our goal as gained.
We look at the time that does remain.
We count the time in past as dead
And reach those things which are ahead.
We all know that the past cannot be changed. We all know that if we could we would go back and change some of the things that we’ve done. We would all like to mend the fences we have left down and build back the bridges that are burned. We also know mended fences and rebuilt bridges are never the same as the original. The past is helpful in one way. The past can help us make decisions that will affect the future.
As Christians there are two things that our lives touch. Several times in the Bible we have read the greatest commandment proclaimed by Jesus.
Mr 12:30 ’And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
31 "And the second, like it, is this: ’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these." (NKJV)
The word neighbor is explained in Eph. 4:25
Eph 4:25 Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. (NKJV)
The letter to the Ephesians was written to the church at Ephesus and in Eph 4:25 the apostle Paul says speak truth to our neighbors for we are members of one another. Being members of one another makes it plain that the word neighbor means brother or sister. Therefore when Jesus said to love your neighbor as your self, He was not talking about the person who lives next door to you but about the one who is your brother or sister in Christ. Those persons are to be loved and treated as you would love and treat yourself.
When we look back and examine our hearts, our souls, our minds and our strengths we can realize how we have loved our God and our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can see how we have treated our God and our brothers and sisters. We should have a self examination of our love in the past year that we might love more fervently as we look ahead to the new year or a new beginning. That self examination of time past can show us how our lives have touched the two most important things, whether it be in a good way or a bad way, our love for our God and our brother.
There is a quote made by one of our presidents:
Men who live in the past remind me of a toy I’m sure all of you have seen. The toy is a small wooden bird called the "Floogie Bird." Around the Floogie Bird’s neck is a label reading, "I fly backwards, I don’t care where I’m going. I just want to see where I’ve been." Harry S. Truman.
It is for sure we cannot live in the past. We must live for the future. The past cannot be forgotten if it helps us to live the future in a more righteous way. I remember a man who kept a picture of himself on his desk at work. Most people do not keep pictures of themselves on their desk at work but this man did. It was a picture of himself and his newly born son. In the picture you could see that this man was very high on drugs and he kept the picture to remind him where he had been and where did not want to return.
Eph 2:11-13 … But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Paul here reminds the Christians at Ephesus where they had come from and reminds them how that had obtained their salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ.
In the first Corinthian letter he reminds them where they had come from.
I Corin 6:9-11 …and such were some of you. But you have been washed….
Here the apostle Paul reminds those at the church at Corinth that some of them had been fornicators, some idolaters, some adulterers, some homosexuals, some sodomites, some thieves, some covetous, some drunkards, some revilers and some extortioners…but he reminds them they had been washed (baptized), they had been sanctified (set apart) and they had been justified (declared just) in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of our God!
So what did the apostle Paul mean in Phil. 3:13, “forgetting those things which are behind”? Here in I Corin 6 he tells them to remember and he tells those at Philippi to forget. We must remember where we have come from if it makes us do better but the things that hold us back we are to forget. There is little doubt the apostle Paul meant for us to forget the sin in our past and begin anew. Put the sin that besets us in the past and leave it in the past. The apostle Paul uses very similar language:
Heb 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (NKJV)
In our text in Phil. 3:13 the message is not the past but the future.
Fortuneteller, gazing into crystal ball, to frog: You are going to meet a beautiful young woman. From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you--you’ll fascinate her." Frog: "Where am I? At a singles club?" Fortuneteller: "Biology class."
Conclusion:
We must forget the things that beset us and reach with newness for the future. We leave those things in the past that need to be left in the past and remember where we have come from to develop and create a new and better faith in our God. We need to strengthen our relationships with each other in the future and press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Will you come believing, repenting, confessing belief and have a willingness to be baptized into Christ Jesus?
