Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:13-14
It's hard to believe, but we're in the last week of 2016. This year has been a pretty wild ride. There have been some good and great blessings, and some so close it could be tasted but not quites. There have been some achievements won and ground gained. Some of that ground has been given back. Some may have been retaken again, and maybe even this cycle has been repeated multiple times. Some goals were not reached. There were mistakes and bad choices and epic, epic fails. Others were shown love and grace. Others saw the old humanity without it being altered by Christ. Some were drawn to the light. Some were pushed away. Relationships were mended and torn. Life was hard. Life was precious and worth living.
Is he writing about himself or me or someone else? Yes. Yes, all of the above, because all of the above is true. All that may, no is, there is no maybe about it...is not the same is the degree. Some people had more of the blessings and the good. Some had more or less of not quite getting the breaks and finding success, reaching the goal. Some may have achieved most of what they hoped, while others may have only succeeded in surviving. You get the idea. Some had a great year and did well. Some did not. But none of us did it right. Not one of us made a 100 this year. No one reached that perfection in performance, in motive or in spirituality. You weren't holy one whole week, much less the entire year. Neither was I. Or that other person.
Yet at the same time, none of us were total write-offs. None of us, whether we failed or rebelled or even if we volunteered to give up our freedom and become slaves again, have reached that point where it is too late to be redeemed. We fell short. We lost. There was pain and hurt and disappointment and doubt and bitterness. We failed to show the love of Christ because we failed to love like Christ. We chose wrong. We reacted wrong to the choices and mistakes of others. We set out with good intentions that were forgotten before our destination was reached. We started off with selfish motives and stepped on the toes and bruised the hearts of others. But His mercies are new every single morning. His forgiveness is quick and sure. He runs to the prodigal who repents and reaches out with compassion to help restore the broken and the fallen.
So no matter how you'd grade yourself this year, A+ or F-, and no matter how you'd grade life and the way things went for you over the year from great to worst year of your life, it's time to let go of yesterday. The week before that. And the year. And all the years that came before this one. Thank God for the blessings and His grace and forgiveness and mercy. Ask to remember the lessons learned and the wisdom gained. Have the past remain close by so that the word of our testimony can become an effective weapon against the enemy to help set other captives free and so that our experience can benefit others. Then let the rest go. Stop looking back for the glory days. The glory days are to come. Stop looking back in sadness and sorrow and regret. You have been forgiven, and as the rest of Philippians 3 let's us know, no matter what it is that we lost this year, no matter how wonderful and precious it was, it was naught compared to what we have and will have in Christ. Remember the good and what is helpful. Let go of the rest.
Press on toward the goal of being of maximum service to God and others, of loving like Jesus and of getting so close to God that nothing can interfere with our relationship with Him. Let the new day dawn today, and the rest of the week and next year and all that will follow that. We are not perfect, and we will not be on this side of eternity. We can not take pride in our spiritual successes, because they are only possible by the grace of His power, and we must not walk in condemnation over our failures, because we have been forgiven and can be restored yet again.
Today is the day of salvation, the day to walk closely with God or return to Him. Today is the day to repent of the shortcomings and the rebellion. Today is the day to rejoice in the success of His grace and the richness of His love. Today we can be free. Today we can love and be loved. Today we can be clean before our Lord. Today we can be a light of love that shows His glory, power and way of life instead of being a reason for captives not to trust the One who wants to set them free. Today can be whatever God needs it to be and needs us to be as long as we are willing to surrender our life and will this day, today, denying self and following Him. The successes and failures of yesterday and yesteryear matter only in what can be learned and grown and shown of who He is and His love.
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