Philippians 3:13b-14
How difficult would it be to drive a car if you always looked behind you instead of in front of you?
You may be able to drive like that for a little while but you will soon find it impossible to sustain.
Yet that is exactly how many of us try to go through life. We are always looking back and bemoaning failures or reliving success. It is okay to learn from both of those but to dwell there too long is to render us un useful in the present. That is one of the easiest tools of the enemy. If he can get us focused on either the failures or successes on the past then we will be doing nothing in the present. This passage tells us to forget what is behind and always be reaching forward to what is ahead of us. That which is ahead of us is described in verse 14 when it tells us to pursue as our goal the prize that is promised to us. If our focus is the prize then our work will be focused on getting us there. You can’t successfully run a marathon if you always look behind you.
The believer must refuse to rely on past virtuous deeds and achievements in ministry or dwell on past sins. To be distracted by the past debilitates one’s efforts in the future.
A couple of quotes to close:
“To escape the distress caused by regret for the past or fear about the future, this is the rule to follow: leave the past to the infinite mercy of God, the future to his good providence; give the present wholly to his love by being faithful to his grace.” Jean-Pierre de Caussade in The Joy of the Saints
Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. - Corrie Ten Boom
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