2022 is upon us! As we reflect on what may lie ahead, what will we focus on in the upcoming year? A new year brings with it new life, new growth, and new hope for the future.
Thinking about the future often brings us face to face with our past, and we can all agree that memory is a powerful thing. The past experiences we’ve had shape our decisions today. What we focus our minds on, what we choose to remember and think about, will shape our future.
In Philippians 3:12-16, we hear Paul challenging us to join him in remembering truth. Paul had plenty of difficult experiences, traumatic ones even, that he could choose to remember and hold on to. Instead, he makes a conscious choice to forget what lies behind and press on toward what lies ahead of him in Christ!
I press on…
Paul is not saying to forget all of the details of our past experiences, he’s guiding us to forget the lies. To forget anything other than God, who should be the single most defining force in our lives. To forget the falsehoods that we have believed in the past and instead to move forward in faith, believing the truth of who God is and who he’s created us to be.
Remember our PURPOSE
Paul’s mission is to strain forward, moving toward the objective of knowing Christ and making him known to others, to impact the world for his glory. It’s knowing your why, your purpose, and keeping it in mind every step of the journey. If we don’t remember our why, we will slowly drift off-course. The pursuit of Christ, to know him and make him known IS our purpose! Keeping this at the forefront of our thoughts each day will keep us moving forward in faith.
Remember our POWER
To know Christ and make him known is beyond our own ability— we need an outside source of power. God is the one who sustains us and gives us everything we need for life and faith. The sooner we acknowledge our need for his power, the quicker we can receive from him and experience great joy in life. One way to know if we’re trusting in the wrong things is if our minds are constantly dwelling on what lies behind us. Remember where your power comes from and you will be fueled to keep moving forward in strength!
Remember our PRIZE
God has been orchestrating our lives from before we were born. He’s the one who has brought us through all of our past experiences, sustaining us the whole time, and he will lead us onward to reach the ultimate prize of eternity in his presence. Paul’s example inspires us to fix our eyes on what lies ahead of us: unrestrained union with Christ. One day, we will be with him. No doubt his Spirit is with us even now, but there will come a day when we will see him face to face. We will experience unhindered fellowship with Jesus— our glory, our prize, our why. And when we set our minds to remember the valuable prize that he is to us, the day-to-day of 2022 will be ever more meaningful.