“…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 3:13b-14, NLT)
Good Morning and Happy New year. Thank the Lord 2020 is behind us and we are looking at a bran new year. Come on in the coffee is brewing. Since we are celebrating a new year, I am pulling out all the stops and I bought Starbuck’s coffee for everyone. We have Latte’s, we have mocha’s, we have Frappuccino’s and Americano’s. I even splurged and got a couple dozen Cranberry Orange Scones and Chocolate croissants. Enjoy.
As we think on and celebrate the New Year the first question people tend to ask what resolutions are setting. Well, I don’t set resolutions for they are only set to be broken. Once a resolution is set and then broken it is really hard to get back on the resolution horse. Instead, I set goals. A goal is something to strive for and if one should stumble on the way to achieving a goal that is ok. You can pick yourself up and continue towards the goal.
For example, last year I set a goal for myself to get under a certain weight by the end of the year with an overall goal of getting in better shape. No, I am not going to say what that weight is but it was a significant goal for me. Now if I would have set this as a resolution, I would have simply said I wanted to lose weight so when I started to stumble, I would have beat myself up and just given up. However, with it as a goal, I was able to continue and push on. I am sad to say I did not reach my goal, but I was only 8 pounds from reaching it. So that is awesome.
This reminds of what Paul says in Philippians 3 about how we are all running a race and how we must press on to the finish. In a race the finish line is the goal. And in a race, there are certain things one must do in order to reach the goal. The primary thing we must do in a race is keep the goal, the finish line, in mind and we get closer to that goal every step we take.
This is the same with our Christian walk. So many Christians quit before the finish line because they take their eyes off of the prize. They get distracted with life’s obstacles and pitfalls. They become disillusioned and disheartened because they trip, fall, and skin their knees that eventually they stop trying to get up. And I would say a big reason for this is because in the beginning they never set the goal to finish the race, they wanted to just start racing.
Today, I am going to encourage you to set a spiritual goal of growing closer to God and I am going to quickly give you 4 steps, or even goals, to achieving this spiritual goal. As we do this, we must keep the ultimate goal of our lives in mind, that of eternal life with Christ. We can not lose this focus and I believe these 4 steps will help us in that endeavor.
The first step we need to do is LET GO OF THE PAST. The past is behind us. Whatever we have done whatever stupid choices we have made they are done. There is nothing we can do about them. We can’t go back and change them. So many of us are so consumed with looking behind us that we keep tripping and falling over all sorts of obstacles in our present. We are so busy looking behind us we have lost the trail we were following. However, if we would just stop looking behind us and concentrate on what is in front of us, we would not fall as much and we can avoid many hurts, habits, and hang-ups.
For us to stop looking backwards we need to let go of the past. It is what it is. We need to examine the past to learn from it but at the end of the day we need to leave it alone. Now I am not saying we do not have to deal with the consequences of our past actions but we do not have to beat ourselves up over it. Satan loves to bring up our past to stop our growth.
We must remember the grace of God and the work that Jesus did for us on the cross. Our past does not control our future. When we come to God, we become a new person. The old is gone and we don’t have to live that way anymore. So, if we are new, we do not need to beat ourselves up over the past.
While we are dealing with our past, we also need to LET GO OF GRUDGES. Oh how we love to hold grudges. Many of us have held grudges for many years. We hold grudges for how our parents and others treated us. We hold grudges for many reasons. However, the one thing that I have learned is the only person I hurt by holding a grudge is myself and the longer I hold a grudge the harder it is for me to let it go. See what happens with a grudge is it slowly turns into resentment and resentment rots the soul.
The way we get rid of grudges is by GIVING AND ACCEPTING FORGIVENESS. So much to say so little time. This is probably the hardest thing for us to do for so many different reasons. But forgiveness is key to not tripping and falling. We misconstrue forgiveness for we believe forgiveness is about letting someone off the hook. But forgiveness is not about them, but it is about you. When we choose to forgive, we choose to let go of being judge and executioner, so to speak. Forgiveness is one of our chief commands, for scripture tells us that we are to forgive how we want God to forgive us (Matthew 6:14-15). Do we want God to forgive and forget or do we want God to forgive and yet hold us accountable for our sins? See, that is what we say when we say I will forgive but I won’t forget.
Now we don’t only have to forgive others, but we need to ask for forgiveness. We need to ask for forgiveness from others, from God and even from ourselves. That last one is often the hardest one. As I said earlier, we need to forget our past and yet many of us can’t because we refuse to forgive ourselves. We refuse to let ourselves off the hook for the wrongs we have done. And yet we must remember, Christ paid the price for something he did not owe because we owe a price we cannot pay. We can never repay God for all the wrong we have done against him and yet he has already paid it for us. We need to accept it and forgive ourselves.
As we do this, we are able to ACCEPT AND LIVE IN FREEDOM IN GOD. Only when we accept God’s forgiveness and forgive ourselves, are we able to live in the freedom God has given us. One of my biggest frustrations is that I know God has broken the chains of sin in my life and yet far too often I pick up the shackles and put them back on. I too, struggle living in the freedom found in Christ. I far too often prefer living in the shame and guilt of sin for some part of me continues to believe I deserve to stay there. And yet that is a lie Satan tells all of us. Satan doesn’t want us to live in the freedom found in Christ, for if we do there is nothing holding us back from finishing the race that is set before us and obtaining the prize of living in relationship with God for all eternity.
If you are struggling today with any of this, you are not alone. We all struggle with this and I think we all will continue to struggle until Christ comes back. But here is the important part you are not alone and don’t have to do this life alone. We are meant to be in community with each other and God. We are meant to lean on each other and strengthen each other. Don’t let Satan deceive you, God loves each and every one of you. May his light shine in your life and on your path. Keep focused on him and see the difference it makes in your life.
Well our time is up and I must go. Everyone at Cellblock ministries will be praying for each of you and may you set the goal this month to forget the past, live in the present and run the race that is set before you. You can do it with Christ by your side.
Your brother in Christ,
Pastor Jonathan
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