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It was amazing to watch Tiger Woods this weekend win the PGA tournament again. His 12th major tournament and his second this year. He dismantled the competition on the way to his 51st win over all. Barring injury or some other onforeseen circumstance Tiger will certainly win more tournaments and more majors than any golfer ni the history of the sport.
What sets him apart from other players? Certainly there are other players with amazing talent. Some putt better, others are longer drivers, and at least one is a better iron player. So what is it?
His competitors will tell you that it is his smarts. He is the smartest and most mentally tough player in the game....maybe ever. He is able to put behind him whatever bad shots he does hit, and stay focused on what he needs to do with his next shot.
That was Paul's message to us in the letter he wrote to the Philippians. He said,
Forgetting what lies behind, I strain forward to what lies ahead...
In some ways a person could think that such an approach is a cop-out, a form of denial. But it isn't.
Paul describes this kind of thinking as how those who are mature in the Lord will think. Interesting. Not a cop-out at all, but it is a sign of maturity in Christ that we don't dwell on the past, but rather strain forward to what lies ahead.
I recently preached a sermon on this subject and during the sermon on the screen behind me I projected a Power Point slide of two runners, hurdlers to be exact, leaning forward toward the tape at the finish line.
Behind them in the background of the shot, you could see the hurdles they had come over. In one lane far in the back, was a downed hurdle. What was interesting to notice as it relates to the subject at hand, is that neither runner was looking behind them. Both were only looking toward the finish line.
Whether hurdles were down behind them or they had cleared them all made no difference. What mattered was the finish line.
Far too often we knock over hurdles in life--failing in some way, sinning, whatever it may be that is our "knocked down hurdle"--and we stand in the running lane of life staring at the hurdles on the ground.
We are immobilized by our failures, frozen in a spot on the track. We look around for more of our hurdles that have been tipped over. And sure enough we find them. So we spend time looking at those hurdles too.
Depending on our personality, we may spend a fair bit of time looking at the hurdles that have been knocked down in other lanes. All we see is failure; our own failure and the failure of others.
Another group of us stands in the lane on the track admiring the fact that they have knocked down fewer hurdles than others! Pride! What great hurdlers they are! Really? They are still on the track staring at hurdles rather than running toward the finish line.
The Lord would have us stop spending so much time looking at hurdles, either hurdles still standing (our successes) or hurdles that have been knocked over (our failures). Yes we need to repent when we fail, but we aren't to stay at the point of our failure in the lane of life.
We are to press on. We are to strain forward to what lies ahead--the upward call of God in Christ.
What we may not realize as believers in Christ, is that when we knock over hurdles in life, as we will, there is someone coming up behind us in our lane! It is the Lord. And he is picking up those hurdles. He is making all things new. He is forgiving our sins.
So don't live in the past. Don't stand staring at your failures. Where repentence and restitution is needed, do it. Repentence and restitution are Biblical steps. But note that they are "steps," that is, that we should be moving on from them. They are steps, not stopping points.
God wants us to forget what lies behind and to press forward to what lies ahead.
As a believer in Christ he has set you free. Lean forward, press on, feel the wind of the Spirit that has set you free. This is God's will for you. Enjoy it.
And tomorrow or next week when you knock over another hurdle, as you will, repent but keep moving knowing that there is someone coming up in the lane behind you to pick up your hurdle. His name is Jesus and he'll take care of things.
