…….. Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead…. Philippians 3:13 (NLT)
As I posted the poem ‘TODAY’ to my blog this verse popped into my mind and I feel compelled to write on the subject of forgetting because it is a major part of being able to live today well.
If anyone had a lot to regret it was the Apostle Paul. He had been a party to murder and the persecution and misery of many believers, yet God in all his love had reached down and transformed his life and called him to be joined to those whom he had previously persecuted. Can you imagine what would have happened if Paul had not been able to push beyond his past and live in his new TODAY?
When he penned this verse Paul didn’t mean that he did not remember what he’d done in his ‘previous life’; he wrote about it in Galatians (1:13), but he no longer allowed his past to affect his present. The earlier part of our key verse today reads No dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing. Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I strain to reach the end of the race….
Yes, I too have done things I am ashamed of; things I wished I had done differently, and there are things I did not do that I wish I had done. There are things that were done to me that have caused me grief and have affected who I am, BUT GOD has given me TODAY to remember who I am in Christ. I am a brand new creation, loved unconditionally, forgiven and gifted for his purpose (Ephesians 2:8-10). His grace is available to me for the purpose of accomplishing every good work that he has planned for me to do…… including writing this devotional.
If my focus is continually on my past; what was done to me and the sins I have committed, then I will not be free to walk in today in the truth that God has set me free from the past to walk in his light. Yes, we all have regrets but that may not be our focus. Our focus is Christ who is our ‘NOW LIFE’. Remember, whatever we focus most of our attention on…………… that is our idol.
A major key to forgetting is to forgive. We must forgive ourselves, and forgive others. Yes we can do it because Christ is in us with all his grace available to help us do it. To be free we must forgive.
Rise from the ashes of the past ………… look to what lies ahead. You are free from your past……… if you allow yourself to be. Christ has freed you to live in his new dimension of eternal life which begins here on earth as we enter the kingdom of God.
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for your gift of grace which empowers me to do all that I need to do in order to walk away from my past and into the life you have planned for me. Amen
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