“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
Philippians 3:12-14 NLT
For those who might think that Paul is reliving his past accolades, this is far from the truth. He gives these things weight in his life, but views them as a starting point for his spiritual journey. In effect, these are the things from which he was saved. Instead, he puts his past in the context of a race track. These things are things to be moved past. They are things to be left behind. They establish context for gospel, but they are not the gospel nor the goal. To that end, Paul doesn’t believe that his journey will be knowable until he has reached his destination. This will be at the end of his life. As leaders, we shouldn’t emphasize the past in any other way. It should not be held as a romantic notion to one day reclaim upon perfection. Instead we should strive to be as far away from it as possible so that the kingdom of God may be advanced in our story. We must stop looking backward and start to look forward to what lies ahead. To many Christian walks are spent trying to restore or recapture that semblance of perfection that we felt when we were at the height of our so called glory days. For the Christian, we must acknowledge that our true glory days are what is to come and that we should stop looking backward in our faith. Races are won by keeping our eyes at the finish line rather than by constantly drawing our attention behind us.
JOSH McGARY. COM 