We’ve reached that time of year when reflection and new beginnings are the order of the day. We look back over the past year and consider the way we lived our lives. What did I do well? What
could I have done better? What great decisions did I make? What decisions could have been better? What, in my life, should remain the same for the coming year? What changes do I need to make in my life to become the person that God wants me to become?
While this reflection and contemplation are good and have a place in our lives, there comes a point when we must put the past in the past. The Apostle Paul said it this way in Philippians 3:12-16 (emphasis added):
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 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. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”
I encourage you, as the New Year approaches, consider the past. Think about what you should continue doing, what you should do with more vigor, and what things you should eliminate from your life. Then, move forward. Begin to put those changes into action as you “forget what is behind…straining toward what is ahead” to claim the “prize for which God has called” you in 2016.
May God bless you in the coming year!
What Bible verse are you choosing as your theme verse for the coming year? Write it in the comments!