... forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the Heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13b
Straining forward. That is our present posture as Christian disciples.
When I began to run for the track team in Junior High in Albuquerque, New Mexico, my posture was all wrong. I ran head up, upright chest flat, legs barely bending. Still, surprisingly enough, I was pretty fast. Then coach told the team about posturing ourselves to lean forward, and that the faster that we ran the more we were to tilt toward our goal. To express this in the extreme, coach made us run the quarter-mile while straining our bodies forward so much that we fell forward and lost our balance. We utilized those postures of straining forward and our team began to win races at our track meets. Straining forward is a posture that takes practice.
Our Scripture reminds us of the positive benefit of straining forward. A lot may have happened in our lives thus far that tends to pull us back-- back into what lies behind us. We can get wrapped up in what was. We can become more involved in things of the past that then cloud our present living. We can fail to be the best that we can possibly be for Jesus Christ because we don't forget about what happened during our yesterdays, and is unchangeable at this point. It is time to look at today's possibilities and take a glimpse with Jesus Christ at your tomorrows.
Easy to do? Not necessarily, because we are both blessed and burdened with our brain's memory devices. Jesus responded to this with understanding and empathy. He said, "Go," Daughter, go and get busy, for you are loved by God (Mark 7:29). Son, "go," you are healed because your faith has made you well (Luke 17:18). Dear one, "go," He said, and know the blessings of life in abundance (John 9:11). "Go," and look forward with faith in my Heavenly Father (Luke 18:35).
Press on today and tomorrow. Look forward with faith.
