Paul was the greatest leader in the history of the church, but he wasn’t cocky. He knew he was still a work in progress. Paul’s days were filled with starting churches, managing leaders, and taking the gospel to everyone in the known world, but he reduced his job description to “one thing.” We’d interpret his comments in management terms as the rigorous commitment to a singular objective that has two parts: not dwelling on the past, but reaching ahead to achieve the vision of the future.
The past can bog us down in two distinctly different ways: Some of us feel ashamed by failures in our personal lives or in business, and our minds are haunted by those memories. Every decision we make is colored by our grief and the fear that we’ll make the same mistake again. Others of us, though, live in past glories. We’ve enjoyed stunning success, but instead of using our gains as a foundation for future growth, we keep reliving those memories. Living in the past, whether failed or successful, takes our lives out of focus. Paul says, “Forget the past and move on.” As a new year begins, I need to press on. This world, this nation, this life, have so many things that can get me distracted and take my eyes away from the Lord. I pray I will be more intentional in running His race as the new year unfolds. Welcome 2018.
