Pressing ahead and focussing on the future, forgetting the past is the basis of Philippian's three. Sometimes the past is not easy to forget, but I love the apostle Paul's determination to press forward, forgetting what has been, whether good or bad, and pressing towards the goal of becoming like Jesus. Paul's past had many good things and also many bad things in it, yet he focussed on what lay ahead and not on what had been.
We cannot change the past. We can learn from it and we can grow from the experiences, but we cannot go back and change it. We can however choose to do things differently in the future. How we do this is important though. We can make the past experience into something positive for our future or we can allow the past to stop us from progressing by staying stuck in it. The choice is ours.
That is why Paul in Philippian's 3 says that he is not focussing on the past. It is gone. But what he is focussing on, what he is looking forward to, is the future. If we too are focussing on the future, we are focussing on what God has planned for us, and we can press on and forwards to become more Christlike. We do not have to be stuck in the past. We do not have to live in past glories or failures never moving forward. No, we can learn from these experiences but they should never define us.
I do not want to be defined by the past. I want to be defined by pressing forward, following after God's direction and desires for my life and pressing on to the goal of becoming Christlike. God is in the transformation process and he can take what we offer and use it for his glory. this is what I want. I don't always get it right. It is a life long process, but as I press forwards, and keep my focus in the right place I can confidently trust that what God started he will finish. My part is to keep my attitudes and my focus in the right place and keep in step with what God is doing.
