How many of us like to dwell on things that happened in our past? We either like to crow about our past achievements, and how great they were, or we get down and discouraged about past mistakes and failures. Either way, we are stuck in the past, not the present. That could have been a problem for St. Paul, too, if he would have let himself. However, he didn’t, as we see in our Scripture passage today from his letter to the Philippians.
The Apostle Paul had a past. Some of his achievements people might feel he could be proud of, other things he did, perhaps not so much so. As a youth, Paul studied with the greatest Jewish scholar of the day, Gamaliel. He was undoubtedly a good student, and became a scholar in his own right. Paul became a Pharisee, and zealously kept the Old Testament Law. That was something that some might say he could be proud of. However, after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, when the early Church was beginning to be established, Paul, in his zealotry for the Jewish faith, persecuted the new believers. He went so far as to track them down, arrest them, and see that they would be put to death. That was something that after he became a Christian, he could get really depressed and discouraged about. What did Paul think about either one? Let’s look at what he said.
As our Scripture begins, Paul told how, instead of bragging about his background, his excellent education, and his life as a devout Pharisee, he said that he counted this all as loss, something not worth keeping, something that he considered as rubbish (vs. 8). What he did consider gain was his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When eternity came, Paul wanted to be found in Jesus. He knew that his salvation wouldn’t be gained through his own righteousness, any good works or adherence to the Law, but through his faith in the Lord Jesus and His righteousness (vs. 9). What Paul will boast of is the power of Jesus’ resurrection, and what he has gained spiritually through Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. These, and not anything that Paul could have done himself, would lead him to gain the resurrection of the dead (vs. 10-11).
In addition to not bragging about some things that many people would have felt was justifiable, Paul also was not going to be brought low due to discouragement or depression for past deeds that he was ashamed of, namely his persecution of early Christians. Paul knew that he wasn’t perfect or attained perfection (vs. 12-13), however he would press on in his Christian life.
Like Paul, each of us have sins of our past that we may feel bad about, some more grievous than others. Sometimes we feel so bad or ashamed of these sins, we have not told anyone about them. However, in addition to God knowing about them, Satan knows, as well, and he will do everything he can to use those sins to bring us down into the depths of depression about them if he can. If he can, the devil will try to get us so discouraged that we give up doing any type of work or ministry for the Lord. He certainly tried to with the Apostle Paul. The apostle, though, wasn’t going to fall into Satan’s trap.
Instead of getting depressed or discouraged over his sins, Paul knew that the Lord Jesus had forgiven him of all of his sins, and he was going to forget the things of his past, things that were behind him (vs. 13). Instead, Paul was going to press forward to his goal of the calling that God had given him (vs. 14). Like Paul, once we have come to the Lord for salvation, we need to remember that He has then forgiven our sins, and we should not listen to the devil or any other person tell us otherwise, or try to make us continually feel bad about our past. We need to believe what God says about us over what everyone else says. Stop listening to those who say that you cannot do anything for God because of something in your past.
While it is wise to learn from our past, we shouldn’t live in that past. We cannot redo or undo our past mistakes, but by God’s grace we can press forward and serve God faithfully today and in the future. Someone once said “Don’t stumble on something behind you.” We usually stumble on things in front of us. But we can get derailed by focusing too much on the past, which prevents us from living our lives fully as God intends.
In closing, we should take the example of two national animals native to Australia, the emu and kangaroo. In addition to being two animals that are native to that country, they also share one other characteristic. It is nearly physically impossible for either animal to move backward without turning around. Us humans can easily walk backwards, and most other animals can be trained to walk backwards, as well. Let’s not dwell on our past achievements or past sins, but instead, like the kangaroo and emu, let’s look forward, keeping our eyes on the Lord Jesus.
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