Good Morning All,
Philippians
3:13; “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I
do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies
ahead, “
A
great aim or desire of this nation is to improve ourselves. We are always trying to make it better next
time. We make resolutions every New Year
and what are they about? We usually want
to lose weight, quit smoking, exercise more, spend more time with our family;
these are all fine and laudable goals.
We seek to improve our lives, our skills, and our future.
We view life as one long process of getting
better. Many people see staying the same
as really falling behind. So, if our
goal is to get better, why is it so difficult?
Probably the biggest reason is that we have so much difficulty letting
go of the past. We look back too much,
and we don’t let go.
This can happen in our faith walk as
well. When Jesus first called his disciples,
he told them that he would make them fishers of men. He would make them; this shows that it is a
lifelong process. Each day, we are
molded and shaped a little bit more.
Each day is different from the last.
Each day we can grow closer to God; our faith being strengthened and
nourished. This is done best when we look with our “faith eyes” and see God’s
hand in our lives and see His active will for us. We can strive to live as He
desires us to live; that is, to love our neighbor, to be compassionate to his
needs and willing to sacrifice for our neighbor.
So why do we fail? Many times, it is because we only see with
our “physical eyes” which can lead us to look at only our wants, needs and
desires. When we do not completely satisfy our selfish wants, we lash out in
anger, bitterness, and hatred. We “keep score” with a desire to “settle
accounts.” Often, we do not forgive.
Jesus tells us to forgive and then we are to move on. We are to strain forward. It is when we are too busy looking back that
we fall down. We need to forgive. We need to forgive our family and friends for
sleights that really mean nothing. We
need to forgive people we don’t even know whose actions are directed elsewhere
but hit us. Above all, we need to
forgive ourselves. It is when we fail to
forgive ourselves that the devil keeps a toe hold in our life reminding us of
those sins that we won’t let go of.
God’s mercy moves him to forgive our sins; it is only our guilt and the
devil’s traps that keep us looking back.
Strive to look forward, going forth in God’s wonderful grace.
Through God’s forgiveness, he empowers us
and enables us to live the life that we were created for; to be the caretakers
of His creation and children of our heavenly Father. God created mankind to grow and live a full
life in His care and in His service. Strive to look forward.
Dear
Father, lead us forward keeping our eyes looking only to you. Move us to let the past be past and that we
only see what is good looking forward.
In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace
Pastor
Bret
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.