Press on, don't look back

Tue, 17 Dec 1996

Clergy/Leaders' Mail-list No. 331 

     Here's another daily meditation from my recent book of devotions
     'Sunrise Sunset' (HarperCollins/Harper San Francisco). Feel free
     to use/adapt it. These appear regularly on our mail-list.

     Shalom!  Rowland Croucher

     Director, John Mark Ministries - resources for pastors/leaders.
       (Bookroom, library, and worldwide F.W.Boreham Trading Post)
                 Home Page: http://www.pastornet.net.au/jmm


                        PRESS ON, DON'T LOOK BACK.


This one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward
to what lies ahead, I press on... Philippians 3:13, 14.


Paul wrote those words from prison.  He'd been arrested in Jerusalem,
detained for two years in Caesarea, and was then sent to Rome to await
trial before the emperor.  And so after four years of his freedom being
denied him, this amazing missionary says he's still setting goals,
pressing on to things that are ahead of him.  The picture is that of an
Olympic foot-race: in such a race you're not concerned with past
territory - in fact looking back can be disastrous - but you're pressing
on towards the finishing-line.  The word Paul uses here is very vivid
indeed: it describes a runner going flat out for the tape. Every muscle,
every panting breath, is harnessed towards that goal. Films these days,
like Chariots of Fire, depict such scenes in slow motion...

Now what are the things he wants to forget?  As we read Paul's letters
three categories come to mind: he must forget his handicaps, he must
move on from his failures, and he mustn't 'rest on his laurels', his
past successes and achievements.


So encourage me, Lord, not to stand still. Life is a race, with a goal,
a destiny. May I run that race with courage and confidence. Amen.
____________________________

Clergy/Leaders' Mailing List                        (Moderated)

This mailing list is open to all Christians via Internet e-mail 
and most fax destinations.

Submissions welcome: clergy@pastornet.net.au 

To unsubscribe, e-mail to: clergy-request@pastornet.net.au 
                               with SUBJECT reading UNSUBSCRIBE

   Copyright: Postings may be re-sent ONLY with all copyright
                     notifications intact.

        A PastorNET ministry: manager@pastornet.net.au

Clergy Mailing List Index | Mailing List Index | PastorNET Home Page | John Mark Ministries Home Page