Leaving the past behind

Last night as our family gathered to study the word we looked at one of my favorite passages of encouragement, Philippians 3. There are many verses that are especially meaningful in this passage but the two that really caught my attention last night were 3:13 – 14:

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.

I am confronted by Paul’s model (and I’m sure I’m not alone) in forgetting what is behind, good or bad. Putting the past behind in return for the newly generated hope in what lies ahead should be an easy thing given the overwhelming greatness of our destination. A newly reborn heart that holds nothing but promise can be stubborn though. I don’t have a problem trading what I thought was really great about my life before Christ renewed me for a different but greater life now. My struggle lies in releasing old injuries, real or supposed, and moving forward.

Why is this such a challenge? Do we hang on to a grudge because we still lack sufficient faith to trust that God works all challenges for good? This might be a partial explanation. Some human notion of fairness pervades our lives and if we interpret an action to have wronged us, our hearts cry out for reprisal in some form. Our souls are turned inside out though and we being forgiven creations are to be forgiving creations. Do we hold on to hurts because it gives us an excuse for our own hurtful behavior? This could also be a remnant of our old being, something to be gotten rid of as we mature. The trouble is the difficulty in doing so.

Perhaps today, as the sun begins to brighten the eastern horizon, I can leave the past behind and commit fully to moving on towards the prize for which God redeemed me. I can only pray.

Christians and the Vote

What are your standards for exercising your voting franchise in this important election year? There is no consensus among the church members in the United States as to who is fit to lead us as citizens so what requirements do you have? Whether Obama or McCain or some yet undefined third party candidate, your vote is too precious to exercise casually or emotionally.

Unlike a King or a Prophet, the Bible does not provide us the standards of a Godly president. We are required then to put our worldview into action and use it to examine the character and positions of the candidate and all of the political machine that follow in their wake. If we have allowed ourselves to become theologically soft we have nothing to fall back upon in performing this vital exercise. Now is the time to truly examine what you believe and determine how you are going to apply these beliefs to life in the world.

The Wheels on the bus go bump, bump, bump!

As the candidate for misjudger-in-chief demonstrates his lack of character and incredibly poor judgement, he tosses yet another associate, Mr. Jim Johnson, under the already crowded Obama express bus. Mr. Obama will want to exercise caution however, when that day comes in the future when he must attempt to disengage himself from Ayers and Dorn, given their explosive history. This kind of judgement and character represents the best the United States of America has to offer?

No more room under the bus!

Senator Obama provided yet another glimpse of his true character (or lack thereof) as he threw his entire church under the bus the weekend in a desparate act of political expediency. It’s getting quite crowded under there as, in the past few weeks, he has thrown his grandmother and pastor beneath the wheels of his juggernaut towards the monarchy presidency. Is this character of a leader? What voter believes that he would not cast them aside with equal vigor the moment that they or their interest group becomes a burden to his grand ambitions?

 

Pride in the Future

Last weekend was graduation time for our local school district and my wife and I had the blessing of watching our son receive his diploma and recognition for his International Baccalaurete studies.  We received an invitation to return to our old home town to celebrate their son’s graduation since the boys had grown up together.

I was overjoyed to see many of the boys that I had coached in baseball and led in cub scouts and boy scouts in their grown up state. Many of them I had not seen for at least four years and I was happy to see that they had grown into fine young men. I was especially proud to find out that two of the young men were giving of themselves and joining the United States Marine Corps this July. I can remember them as boys and now I was able to congratulate them as men. The future is in good hands.

God bless them and all of the young people facing adult life for the first time.