What Is Behind What Is Ahead (Philippians 3:13, 14)

What Is Behind What Is Ahead

 

Philippians 3:13, 14

 

Philippians 3:13, 14 are read: “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” In this passage, Paul says that he does one thing. “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” Actually they are two things. It may be restated, “I forget what is in the past, and I struggle to get what is in the future.” In fact, these two things are what people hate or fear to do most. People don’t like to forget what is behind. They may miss it or regret it, but whatever the reason is, most of people are strongly attached to the past. on the contrary, people don’t like to move toward the future, because it is unknown and uncertain. Thus, ordinary people tend to stay in the past as long as possible, looking at the pitch-black darkness of the future with fear and anxiety.

 

In Genesis 12:1, God called Abraham, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.” In the light of today’s text, here also God tells Abraham to do two things. “Now forget your past including your country, your people, and your father’s household, and move to the land I will show you.” At that time, Abraham’s age was 75, the age of retirement. At this age, even those who have been in a foreign country may have to consider returning home. But God tells Abraham, “Leave your home.” It was an almost impossible command. Moreover, God said to him, “Go to the land I will show you.” God did not tell him clearly where and how the land was. Everything was uncertain. What was given to Abraham was just one simple promise out of God’s mouth. That was all. Now, Abraham had to choose between the two. The past with all beloved things, and the future with only one promise of God! Surprisingly, Abraham chose the future, believing God and his promise. He forgot what was behind, and strained toward what was promised by God in the future.

 

Abraham’s descendents are quite contrasted with their father Abraham. God saved the Israelites from the slavery under Egyptian King Pharaoh, and led them to the Promised Land, the Land Flowing with Milk and Honey. However, they did not like the rough roads and tasteless food on the way to the land, and many times complained to God and missed their past life in Egypt. In Numbers 11:5, they say, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic,” and verse 18, they complain, “"If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!" In fact, they were not better in Egypt. They were merely Pharaoh’s slaves, laboring day and night like animals. Even worse, their issues were food and drink, which were not comparable at all with the glory of God to be revealed to them.

 

It was quite hard for God to lead such a people who were so strongly attached to the past, and tried to go back whenever they were faced with a difficulty ahead. In God, we live by His promise. This means that we live the future, and we live by faith and hope. This is true, whether we are old or young. The Bible is filled with this lesson. In Genesis 19, for example, Lot’s wife looked back, and became a pillar of salt. In 1King 13, a man of God violated God’s command, “Do not return by the way you came,” and was killed by a lion on the way. In Luke 9:61,62 as well, a man came to Jesus and said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family," but Jesus replied to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." All these words tell us that we should not be attached, or miss, or regret the past, but look straight ahead and move forward with all our strength and efforts.

 

Paul’s ultimate goal was “winning the heavenly prize for which God has called him in Christ Jesus.” This means that “what is ahead” is, in fact, “what is in Heaven” and “what is in Christ.” When we think about the Israelites’ complaints, what they were missing was not the life in Egypt. What they were missing was a comfortable life with good food and drink. They were attached to the past life because their heart was attached to themselves and good food. To Paul, in contrast, everything he has achieved in the past was nothing but a waste. Now, all the meanings and values of his life came from the Lord Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of God. This future hope became a beacon that shed light unceasingly in the deep darkness.

 

Christians always live the future, not the past. Or Christians always live the Christ in Heaven, not myself on earth. May the Lord give us this hope and faith in Christ, and strengthen us to move forward to the prize that God promised in Christ.