“13. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
If you’ve spent much time hunting, you’ve probably had a bad experience in some way. Maybe that big buck you were watching for three years had a bad ending. The shot was high and you never found him. Sometimes that friend, that was a close hunting buddy, does you wrong and turns his back to you. What about that great hunting land that you have hunted for so long, but then gets leased out from under you one day. These kinds of things can really get a sportsman down. It can cause you to want to throw in the towel or even stop hunting the rest of the season. You have to come to the point to realize that the past is the past and nothing can change that. You have to look to the future and decide to move forward. The Christian walk is the same way, sometimes on a day to day basis!
Paul is the writer in the book of Philippians. In previous verses he talked about his past life before meeting Christ. He was a persecutor of the church. In the book of Acts we find him standing at the feet of Stephen after being stoned for his faith. The Bible says that Saul was the one consenting to his death. After Saul is saved and changed to Paul, we can see here that Paul is saying, the only thing that matters now is what’s ahead. I have to put the past behind me and look to the things that are before me.
The Christian life can be very difficult some times. Your lost co-workers hate and reject you, your family forsakes you, even believers that use to be so close turn their backs to you. There are days of ministry you could feel like quitting! Don’t forget that God is still in control! Don’t forget that there may be someone in your path that needs to hear the salvation message today. Typically we get discouraged and start having pity parties for ourselves and it causes us to lose focus on the things of Christ! If they rejected Jesus Christ, it is certain that people will reject you! There will be days that circumstances or even our own failures will weigh us down, but take this passage of scripture to heart: “… but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,” Don’t let the past defeat you! Look ahead and listen to what Paul is telling us about the Christian walk, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” God still has great things ahead of you, but you must keep looking up!
There was some folks that allowed my son and I to hunt their land for a while. Don’t really know what happened, but they became very unfriendly and made us feel very unwelcome when we would be at their property. I felt it was best for us to just stop hunting there. There were other factors, I later found out, contributing to their behavior that didn’t even concern us, but felt it was time to move on. I was blessed to have another place to hunt, but I was unable to take my son. What do you do? Do you get down and sad about it? Of course not! There is a God in heaven that will show us great and mighty things if we would just learn to trust Him! We began to pray and ask God to bless us with new hunting property. In a short time, the Lord gave an opportunity for me to preach and present Sixth Day Outdoor Ministry at a local church. Before the service even started, I mean, I haven’t even preached yet, and a gentleman walks up to the table and says, “Are you a missionary?” I said, “yes sir.” He extends his hand for a handshake and as I pulled my hand away, I can feel a blessing he is leaving in my hand! It was green, and it had the numbers 100 on it! What a blessing! After the service was over I had the opportunity to talk with the gentleman again. Come to find out, he owns a big logging business. He was very kind to give us permission to hunt 85 acres, but it didn’t just stop there! The next year he had purchased another 90 acre piece and also gave us permission to hunt that one as well! I even had the opportunity to witness to some of his employees about Jesus Christ. He even went on to give us permission to hunt more properties he owned in other counties! Praise God for being so good to us!
Sometimes we have hurtful things in the past, but don’t let it get you down! We serve a big God! He will do big things in our lives if we will not get hung up in the past! If you are having some trouble getting over something, try to memorize these verses! Though Paul wrote it, it was actually given from our Holy God of heaven!
Memory Verse Week 7/18/21
Philippians 3:13-14
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
