Starting the week with a fresh outlook can be hard. Sometimes the previous week's highlight film looks more like a blooper reel and it's easy for last week's failures to define my present reality. I was in that place this morning...maybe you know it, not a great place. In my contemplation I was lead to the words of Paul in his letter to the believers in Philippi...
"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: 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. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you."
Phil 3:12-15 [italics mine]
I can't explain how it happens, but there are times when the words of Scripture are able to push through the density of my limited understanding and touch places with refreshment and restoration. It's a new week with new challenges, opportunities, as well as grace, faith, hope, and love. Here's to letting what "lies ahead" fuel our sense of mission for what lies in the present.
1 comments:
I'm struck by Paul's first line, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect..." It seems like there is a naivety I awake with each morning that tempts me quite successfully into believing that I can achieve a restored state by nightfall. It's a whispering, that I can do it. Today. Oh how hard it is to face the sunset each night and realize that it simply can't be done. And so I must listen to Paul again, and transfer my hope and eyes towards a different horizon. One with hope founded on Christ and not my own workings.
Thanks for reminding me I am not alone on that journey, Ted. I hope you and your fam are doing well.
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