The second key for success is not only do we have to forget what is behind but we must strain for what is ahead! God always has something more for us. He always has another level for us. Paul could have been satisfied with his first missionary journey but he made three instead! He kept straining toward what God had for him. The lesson is clear. We cannot live in our past but we also cannot be content in our present. God always has a new future for us if we continue to strain towards Him and all He has for us.
The Apostle Paul was once the Pharisee named Saul. The name Saul actually means "intelligence." That was who Saul was. He had everything figured out according to his human wisdom. He knew all the answers until Jesus met him on that road and changed all the questions. He would have to diminish in order to serve God. We also, must realize with great humility who is really in charge. We must crucify our flesh and worldly wisdom and become small so that Christ can become big in us. It is no coincidence then that the name this Pharisee of the Pharisees chose to replace his old name was Paul, which means "small."
Paul would suffer for the name of Christ. I seriously doubt he ever forgot what his life was like as Saul. The screams of the Christians as they died. The amazing grace of forgiveness uttered by Stephen as he passed into the kingdom of heaven. The blood he spilled over human arrogance. Paul remembered too well:
For I am the least of the apostles and do not
even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
But as Paul, he never lived in his past. He never allowed the ghosts of his past rule his present or blind his future. He was always straining for what lay ahead in the mighty plans God had for him. He remembered where God found him in order to remain humble. That is a model for us all. In the famous verses about the thorn in his flesh, Paul speaks about how the thorn kept him from becoming conceited from all of the glorious revelation God had given him. Many speculate what that thorn might have been. It very well could have been the voices or cries of those he had persecuted once in his life before God turned him around. Humbling him but not crippling him. Ghosts can always serve to remind us but they should never serve to haunt us.
Jesus Christ chose Paul as His instrument as much as he has chosen you and me. He has forgiven our past, dwells in our present and has secured our future. Don't walk under the condemnation of your old life. It was buried with Christ. You arose with Him a new creation! You belong to Him now. Live for Him in your present and wait until you see the future He has for you!
Reverend Anthony Wade November 17, 2010
