Forgetting and straining

Philippians 3:13b (NCV)  Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead,  

As I was looking for something else the other day this verse came up on my search.  Forgetting the past; has a lot of things in it for us.  There are the failures of the past.  We need to remember the lessons learned from past failures yet we need to forget the disappointment of the failures that  hold us back from doing what God calls us to do.  We need to forget the hurts, the put downs, the people's comments and the differences of opinion that will hold us back from the calling God has for us.  There are a number of thing that will hold us back; keep us from our full calling that we need to put behind us as we learn to live a missional life.  That is what Paul is speaking to here; those things that make us wonder if we are GOOD ENOUGH for God to use.  Paul says forget the past and look ahead.  Think about Paul's life before he came to Jesus!  He had been killing the Church; the Followers of Christ!  I am sure that there were those, at least during his early ministry year, who remembered Saul/Paul and just could not forgive him for his past.  I am also sure that Satan reminded Paul daily (if not more) of what here had done!  We all have those nagging thoughts!  For Paul I bet that at least one of Satan's attacks was "Why would they want to listen and believe a guy who killed Christians?"  Or, "They can't trust you!  You killed (had killed) people like them!"  Also Satan could use Paul's past against those he was ministering to with things like "Can you trust him?  He might just be claiming this to get in to you movement so he can arrest you too!"  We, like Paul, need to forget our past and look ahead.

Speaking of looking ahead that is what Paul said he was doing "straining toward what is ahead".  In fact Paul was doing a bit more than looking ahead; he "straining toward" it.  To me that is a head down going no matter what attitude!  Paul is going for that which he desires to reach " the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above."  Paul had a goal "the life above".  I also think he had a goal of reaching people for the cause of Christ!  We too need to have both goals; "the life above" and reaching as many people with the Hope and Love of Jesus as we can before we die!  Look at Paul; he did not let getting locked up stop him.  In fact I think he looked at the guards as a captive audience!  Think about it Paul at one point in his ministry had a new person to witness to chained to him every four or so hours and where could that guard go?  I hope that Jesus does not have to give any of us that kind of audience for us to reach people for Christ!  We need to be about reaching people 24/7/385!

Join me in the rest of 2011 and in 2012 to be people reachers for Jesus!!  Forgetting out failures to do so in the past; forgetting the stuff that would keep us for being people reachers and straining toward the prize of seeing people come to know Jesus and seeing them join us in living for Jesus for the rest our our eternal life!!