June 06, 2023 | Be On Mission
Forgetting the Past and Pressing on
Scripture: Philippians 3(NIV)
1 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Devotional
Though some of the challenges the Philippian believers faced came from the Romans with their pantheon of gods, others apparently came from the Judaizers who were pressuring them to get circumcised in the flesh. The Christians in Philippi were under immense pressure from all sides. So Paul listed his Jewish credentials, reminding them that his former zeal for the Jewish religious law was nothing compared to the grace of Christ.
Put plainly, Paul stated, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” (v. 10-11). He was putting his past behind him and embracing the future that awaited him.
Think about your own life journey. Are there some things in your past that still haunt you? Do you still carry some lingering guilt, some persistent shame, some pressing heaviness?
If so, look at what Paul wrote in verses 13-14: “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” How does this speak to your past, present, and future?
On a practical level, Paul encouraged the Philippian Christians to find good role models for living their faith: “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do” (v. 17). Do you have a spiritual mentor? Are you a spiritual mentor to someone else? How is God challenging you right now?
Poem
Rejoice!
Rejoice when days are sunny
When life is all in line
When order paints all beauty
When each moment—sublime
Rejoice when meeting challenge
When to the grindstone, nose
When sweat and grit are needed
When buried in life’s throes
Rejoice when greeting neighbor
When wisdom is instructive
When patience is stretched to its edge
When pleasant or disruptive
Rejoice while life is happ’ning
When rain beats hard your heart
When you are anchored in God’s care
Let grace full joy impart
For joy’s not circumstantial
But grounded in the hope
Of God’s eternal love and plan
God’s promises full scope
Mind’s focus set like Jesus
Who gave up heaven’s throne
Who suffered in obed’ence
To bring God’s children home
Rely upon God’s planning
Reward in heav’n to know
The kneeling of the worldly pow’rs
As God Christ’s crown bestows
For true joy we will know then
When suff’ring has all ceased
When we shall all be with the Lord
And join the wedding feast
So keep the future glory
As forefront in your mind
For now, share gospel’s story
To all of humankind
