"I do not believe I have already reached the goal, nor do I consider myself perfect, but I press on till I possess Christ Jesus, since I have been pursued by Him. No, brothers and sisters, I do not claim to have claimed the prize yet. I say only this: forgetting what is behind me, I race forward and run towards the goal, my eyes on the prize to which God has called us from above in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:12-14
Have you ever been let down by someone and think to yourself, "that's it… I'm done with this person!" And a lot of times, depending on what they did, you do end up still having them in your life. But what if that person is our self? Unfortunately, sometimes it's a lot harder to forgive ourselves than it is somebody else, especially when it comes to habits and situations that leave us feeling ashamed. Taking it a step further, in our relationships with God, letting the relationship grow cold or continually falling into habitual sin may leave us feeling we should just quit before God thinks we're a hypocrite! Why pray or go to church or even claim we're a person of faith if our actions clearly say otherwise?
Well, lucky for us, God doesn't think like we do! In his letter to the Philippians, Paul shares the truth of what God has revealed to him… we will never ever reach perfection in this life. On the contrary, we will always fall into sin, we will always struggle with ourselves and the pull to sin we feel from inside or the world around that. Paul doesn't deny that, but he trusts that if Jesus called him, he simply races forward on the journey to perfection, the ideal relationship with God where we become who God intended us to be. Paul makes it a point to say that he has to forget about what he leaves behind and look forward. So do we have to just keep looking at each sin as something that's in our past and move forward in Jesus. We can't stop, we can't go back, we can't stand still just because we've messed up here and there. Life keeps going and Jesus keeps calling and you have the choice, and more importantly, the support from God, to look forward, stop looking back and reach for the new way you want to live and feel in Jesus Christ!
Today's Prayer:
Father, I know my sins and weaknesses hold me back from You. When I feel cold and disconnected from You, I feel like I don't even have the right to go to You in prayer, but in my heart, I do know You're there and You're willing to give me a 100th chance if that's what it takes to stand on my feet without falling back again. Please help me not to look back anymore but only see Jesus in front of me. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment