First of all, in order for this devotional to make sense, you’re going to need to read an article from Relevant Magazine’s founder and CEO, Cameron Strang, called “The Price Of Vision.” You can do that here: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/main/cameron-strang/blog/23372-the-price-of-vision.
The main idea of the article is that when God gives us dreams and visions of things he wants us to do, it’s going to take time and sacrifice to accomplish it. In fact, as the article says, “If something comes easily and without sacrifice, it’s rarely significant.”
On more than one occasion, the Apostle Paul talks about the idea of process and why things take time. In Philippians 3:12-14, he explains some very interesting and crucial concepts when it comes to accomplishing something that might take you awhile. He writes:
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.
First of all, there’s this idea that we have to press on, that we have to keep going. The phrase “I press on” comes from one Greek word, dioko. It means more than to simply keep going or continue doing something you don’t want to do. It literally means means to pursue with all haste, to chase after, and to earnestly desire to overtake or apprehend. If it’s used in a negative connotation, it can mean to hunt down.
The idea is of someone running as fast as they can toward something they want.
Second of all, there’s this idea of forgetting what is behind. For Paul it meant forgetting his past of persecuting Christians. For us it means we’re forgetting about our past mistakes and our failures. We’re moving on. In other words, part of running forwards is not looking back. It’s interesting because I think often times in the church we talk about what it means to avoid failures, but we don’t talk a lot about what it means to move on from them. But here, Paul says that in order to run forward, you can’t dwell on the past. Sure, you definitely don’t just let things slide. But once they’ve been dealt with, you have to leave them there.
I mean think about it. Anyone who runs full speed ahead while looking behind them is bound to run into something or trip. We’re guaranteed to hurt ourselves if we don’t look where we’re running. The same is true here. If we look backwards and try to reopen our past mistakes while trying to earnestly pursue our God given goal, we’re bound to get hurt. We’re bound to run into something or trip up.
It may sound simple, and is definitely easier said than done, but it’s a reminder we all need to hear often. Don’t let the mistakes of the past keep you from pursuing what God wants for you.
(photo from Sheffield Tiger)