the following thought is from a friend of mine and a fellow co-pastor at cLife. i have been thinking of what to write as we finish out 2008 and Paul's thoughts seemed to say it all. enjoy!
Read: Philippians 3:12 – 14
12Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Brothers, 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, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Today is the last day of the year and I love it. New Years Day is one of my very favorite days of the year. I love it because it represents an opportunity to start over. It’s an opportunity to put the past behind you and live in a fresh, new way.
I think people rarely spend enough time learning from their mistakes. As Randy Wolfe wrote about in his devotional a couple of days ago, I am really big on the “Year End Review”. Every year, for the past 6 or 7 years I have spent a couple of days at the end of the year thinking through the events of the past year. I do this as a way to learn from the mistakes and victories. Too many people claim to have 25 years of experience when they really just have 1 year of experience 25 times. Experience is not the best teacher, evaluated experience is.
I also am a firm believer that there are two things in the past that keep us from being all that God has for us in the future. These two things are our past failures and our past successes.
Past failures have a tendency to challenge our faith. They make us timid and cause us to refuse to take great risks for God. As Mark Twain once said, “If a cat jumps on a hot stove once, he won’t do it again….but he won’t jump on a cold stove either.” Past failures can greatly inhibit our ability to live fully in the future.
Past successes have a tendency to grow our pride. It has been said that the greatest enemy to tomorrow’s success is yesterday’s success. When you have some level of success, it is easy to believe that it comes easy and if you just manage to keep breathing, you “deserve” more. It often causes us to lose our dependence on God. It’s easy for success to lead to complacency and then you stop praying, working, and risking.
I think that is why the apostle Paul tells us in Philippians to “forget what is behind us and strain forward to what lies ahead.” That is great advice as we say goodbye to 2008. Study it, learn from it, forget it. Lean into this coming year and let it be a great year of faith for you.
1 comment:
"I love it because it represents an opportunity to start over. It’s an opportunity to put the past behind you and live in a fresh, new way."
This reminds me of new year resolutions. I try not to make those anymore, because I tend to break them every year. To me forgetting about the past & starting new sounds like a dream, a dream I have often. So today, I'm going to think real hard on who I would like to be. You're right... it's an opportunity to start over. Thank you for posting this.
Post a Comment