Looking Forward

"No dear friends, 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 what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven." Philippians 3:13-14

In a conversation recently, the theme of skeletons in the closet came up. It was dawning on this person that a great deal of life had been lived by others before they were around. We acknowledged the reality that everyone has made choices they wish they could "unchoose." I do. Ugly choices. Hurtful choices. We decided, once properly addressed, there are old bones that don't need to be rattled anymore. 

Confession, repentance, forgiveness, and restitution are the appropriate Biblical responses to our moral failures. Once these response have been taken, Paul calls all Jesus followers to a new focus: Look Forward. In the newness of grace, the past is covered, the future is secured and the present is filled with eternal possibilities. Run! Don't stop. Paul says that God's prize awaits.   

The enemy of God's people, the devil, is very eager to bog everyone down with guilt and shame. He likes to haunt us with the specters of our past. Paul had to set aside his persecution of Christians, in some instances, a persecution to their deaths. What are you dragging around with you that needs a proper burial?

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