Shut the Door! ...

Out of all the New Testament contributors, the apostle Paul has a great deal to say on this issue. In Philippians 3:13 he says:

"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead." Here Paul 

gives us a very important lesson to winning the race that God has called us to run. Just as in a race in an athletic competition, if our goal is to cross the finish line and win the prize, then our focus needs to be on what lies ahead not what's behind. His counsel to us as spiritual runners is to "forget what is behind." I'm not sure that Paul means that we should actually put these things out of our minds, although this is becoming increasingly easier for me to do with time. But what I believe he is saying is that we need to close the door on these things. And by things, I think Paul is suggesting that whatever or whomever is in our past that will cause us to take our focus off the goal that is before us, we need to shut the door to it.

The question that we need to ask ourselves is, "what is in my past that might serve as a distraction from me finishing the race?" For some it could be their past sins and failures. For others it might be relationships with "toxic" people. While for others it might even be past successes that have caused them to become too proud to the point where they begin to take their eyes off God as the source of their blessing.

I challenge you today to look to the past one last time, for the purpose of shutting the door on it. And once you have shut the door, then I challenge you to do as Paul suggests, and that is to strain forward toward the prize that God has set aside for you!

Pastor Charles A. Tapp