“… But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,” (Philippians 3:13)

I know a man, and I am that man, who once lived to satisfy and please the desire of the flesh; until it one day almost killed me. But thanks be to God, through the power of Christ, I learned to leave the past behind and press toward the mark for the prize of victory.

Our yesterday failures, disappointments, aches, pains, hurts, and let-downs never seem to go away. We don’t like the life that is before us, being conformed to the pattern of this world through our flesh. And when we don’t know what to do about them or how to handle them; we seem to just hop and limp along, hoping somehow they will magically go away.

And instead of putting all of them behind us by turning it over to God, we continue to just dwell on them until they become more and more real to us; even more real than God is to us. Instead of us reaching for all that God has placed before the predestinated of time; we yet rest and focus on yesterday’s problems, until we’re bogged down, depressed, and frozen in our tracks by fear, thinking we can’t go on.

But with God we must remember that the mercies of God are new every morning, and we can live a life knowing that “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).

So my brethren, I encourage you to leave the past behind.And remember, being confident of this very thing, a good work in you He will perform until the day of Jesus Christ.

I encourage you to read Philippians 3:7-14. And join me, as “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).