Philippians 3:13-14 Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

 Happy New Year!  As we pass from one year to the next, we often pause to reflect on where we have been and where we are going in our life.

First, we look at where we have been and where we are right now.  At any given time, we are the sum of the choices we have made in our life.  We are the product of every experience that we have had, both good and bad.  We should consider all of these things to be the training that we need to be better people moving forward. However, we should be careful that we do not let the past define us or prevent us from realizing our God-given potential.  As Charles du Bos once said, “the important thing is this: to be able at any moment to
sacrifice what we are for what we could become.”

Where we are going is based on the choices that we make from now on.  Isaiah 28:10 says, “precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”  Each choice we make builds us and shapes us into the people we want to be.  Harvey Spencer Lewis said, “I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today.  I am today, what I established yesterday, or some previous day.”

The Hebrew writer instructs us to “Go on to perfection” in Hebrews 6:1, that we should strive for greater understanding and enlightenment and to be more Christ-like.  The Apostle Paul, in I Timothy 6:11, said, “pursue righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.”  Paul also instructed us to “make the best use of our time” in Ephesians 5:16.

As the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14, forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead.