Philippians 3:12-14, “ I don’t mean that I am exactly what God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal. But I continue trying to reach it and make it mine. That’s what Christ Jesus wants me to do. It is the reason he made me his.  Brothers and sisters, I know that I still have a long way to go. But there is one thing I do: I forget what is in the past and try as hard as I can to reach the goal before me.  I keep running hard toward the finish line to get the prize that is mine because God has called me through Christ Jesus to life up there in heaven.”

You know what I love about this passage? I love that Paul is a forward thinker. I’ve often commented that you can’t go anywhere looking in the rearview mirror, but I would also like to point out that your past will always try to keep you there, stuck in reasons why you can’t move forward. Paul lived his life as if his goal was just out of reach, yet he kept reaching for it as hard as he could. “Running hard toward the finish line to get the prize that is mine because God has called me through Christ Jesus to life up there in heaven.” In all he endured, he never got stuck there. 

Saul was a persecutor of the early church, having Christians stoned, thrown in prison and beaten until one day Jesus met him, changed his life and his name. He could have lived the rest of his life in regret, unable to move forward, focused on what he had done instead of what he was sent to do. Most of the New Testament would have remained unwritten if that had happened. But Paul wrote, “I forget what is in the past and try as hard as I can to reach the goal before me.”

Many of us allow the accuser to speak more to us than the Holy Spirit. Be careful which voice you’re listening to. Is that voice you’re focused on in your future or your past? The Holy Spirit will lead you but the enemy will hold you back with accusations, fear and intimidation. Don’t get stuck there! You may have been traumatized, persecuted, violated, criticized and beaten physically, emotionally or both, but allow yourself time in the presence of the Lord to heal and move forward. God never intended for you to stay there indefinitely. Allow the Lord to be your navigator out of your pit into the palace where he’s destined you to live. 

Just as Paul, I refuse to allow my past to dictate my future. If I allowed those failures to hold me back, I would never be a public speaker, never be a leader, never be a writer, an encourager or an intercessor. If I listened to the accuser, I would have let my lack of education keep me contained in a much smaller place. But I hear a voice, the voice of the one I love, calling my name. He’s saying, ‘Keep reaching, Sandy! I’m here. If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me.’ 

I’m running after you, Father. I may be tired, but I will pick up my weary bones and run yet again. I will run like the wind for a glimpse of your face. I have tasted of your water and I thirst for more. This world is not my home and can’t hold me here. I’m merely a traveler on assignment, commissioned to carry the light of your love to a thirsty world. If I lose my life, you have already redeemed it, what is that to you? I want to be a forward thinker too, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of my faith. I will reach for you until I am in your arms. It’s for your glory that I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.