Philippians 3:12-13

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”

            Paul is writing to the Church in Phillipi to encourage them and to help keep them going in the right direction. But even Paul knows that they aren’t perfect and neither is he and that the will be times where they mess up. Just because we know that we are going to make a mistake doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try and that we shouldn’t hold the commandments of the Lord close to our hearts. Paul gives a great example of what we should do, look forward and focus on where the Lord has you and don’t dwell on the past and look to what mistake you may have made. In our sacrifice, we don’t always do it right or we just don’t do it, but that’s when we realize what we did, repent and turn from that focusing on the Lord and His ability to do it through you. There does have to be effort on your part to seek the Lord and keep His commandments close to your heart. It is easy to look back at all you did wrong and focus on those mistakes and get discouraged. We have to remember that we aren’t defined by our past and that Christ doesn’t see us in all the mistakes or wrong things we have done, He sees us as clean and redeemed because His Son washed away all of those things when He died on the cross for us.

            For me, I condemn myself and I hold on to the things of the past because I feel like I let God down. Condemnation isn’t from the Lord, it’s from the enemy and we have to be careful. With condemnation, there is no redemption or forgiveness, it is a constant string of putting yourself down for that mistake. Conviction is when you know you’ve done something wrong because the Lord reveals it to you, but then you can go and turn from that and be washed clean of it because of God’s grace towards us. It has taken me a long time to understand the concept of not looking at your past and letting it define the now. God wants to encourage me and lead me in my everyday, and when I let the past stay locked in my heart and I feel ashamed and convicted, the Lord can’t work in my life to the fullest extent. It’s easy to see all of the things I’ve done wrong, but the Lord wants me to look ahead and focus on what all He has redeemed me from and where He is taking me. He wants me to be encouraged in Him and His love and forgiveness that is given to me. For my application, I’m going to pray that the Lord would keep me focused on the present and not look to my past to define me, but only to see the freedom and redemption He has given me.