Pressing Further On
In verse 13 of Philippians 3, Paul wrote: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; (to grasp or to have attained) but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Let’s think briefly about “those things which are behind.” Some believers feel that because they can’t forget some offense in the past, they haven’t forgiven the perpetrator. This hangs like a millstone about their neck. But the reason God calls us to forgive is precisely because we can’t forget. Since we can’t forget, we forgive. Every time it comes to mind, we forgive. We may remember what was said or done, but it is no longer an issue when we let it go.
But there are good memories, too. Sometimes at a grave side I’ve been reminded that one of the ways God blesses us is through memory. We don’t want to forget the blessings of God in the past. On occasion, I when I’m visiting a church, somebody will take me aside and say, “There are only a few of us here this morning, but there was a time when this place would be packed, we’d have extra chairs in the aisle.” I think that looking to the past isn’t very helpful if it doesn’t energize us to do something about the future.
The past can motivate us for the future but we have to be careful that we don’t get stuck back there, keep looking back or wanting to go back because we can’t go back. There is no way to get back there. Life happens, changes come, we have to let that go. Both the good stuff and the bad stuff. It is not about forgetting in the sense of not having memory of. We will continue to have memories of good things and bad things in our past. What we need to do is let go of them in terms of their controlling our life.
Paul reminds us that one of the ways that he matures is by letting the past be the past and reaching forward to those things that are ahead. The past is not ahead, only the future is ahead so we reach forward to it. As Christians the immediate future is one thing, the more distant future we can be sure of is something else.
Paul draws our attention not to the immediate future, which for many is scary and insecure, but to the more distant future about which he is entirely sure. So he says that he presses toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He’s living for eternity.
The earlier “press on” was about completing the task God had given him to do. He wanted to do that job and see it through its completion. Now, he is talking about pressing on toward the final goal. It is interesting that he is not focussing on the end of the race, he’s focussing on the prize at the other side and that prize is the upward call - the call home to be in the presence of God. Paul says if you are mature this is going to be where your eyes are, they are going to be up there.
Check up question 8: Am I focussed on and motivated by the prize at the end of the race?
Ron Hughes
© November 2008
