Dear Ones:
The most important moment of our lives is NOW. We are called to live in the present moment, in the will of God, receiving all from Him, for the full out working of His purpose in and through us. We cannot live in the present if we are looking in the past. Such a gaze can be for some, perilous. For others, it can lead to great loss…of time, strength, even life…that blessed opportunity that God gives us to live on this earth. Why?
We remember the story of Lot’s wife, who was instructed by the Lord’s angels, to leave Sodom and not look back. This was not just a casual glance, but the heart-felt attitude of wanting to return to the Sodom of the past. The result was her ruin. The Lord Jesus spoke of the same thing when He talked about putting one’s hand to the plow, and looking back. He says that such a person is not worthy of the kingdom. Is He speaking of a glance, or a determined gaze, wanting and choosing to go back? A glance is different from a gaze. Eve did more than glance at the forbidden tree of life. She gazed. A glance is a distraction, while the gaze is a settled disposition.
The Apostle Paul, a seasoned warrior and follower of Christ, would write something very important for the disciples at Philippi to grasp: “…this one thing I DO, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13) What is he saying? He is stating that he will not allow anything, failures or successes, to deter him or distract him from “running the race” in the present moment. He has dealt with his sins and failures, by coming God’s way of confessing them, receiving forgiveness and cleansing for them, and thus, leaving them forever at Jesus’s feet, no longer to bear the guilt for them. There may be some consequences to these sins and faults, but his hope is in the Lord who “restores the years that the locusts have eaten, …and whose mercies are new EVERY morning.” He goes forth knowing that God’s grace is sufficient, andthat he is not to be dominated by the past. He has also escaped the trap of pride for successes and accomplishments in the past, as he has learned to give thanks to God for all things, and continues to give Him the glory. As long as he is thankful, and giving glory to God for that which He has done, or will do, the ugly head of pride and self-occupation will not be a distraction to him.
With regard to the present moment…he is looking in one place, at Christ. He is seeking those things which are above, setting his affection and mind on Christ, and the purpose and plan of God. He is seeking FIRST the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, knowing that God will provide all that he needs. Paul’s goal in the present moment is to KNOW the God, Christ, trusting and expecting to grasp something of the reason, the purpose for which He has been called into fellowship with Him. And lastly, he is running in the present moment in such a way that he may grasp something of that which is to come, that full revelation of Christ, which will be his when he sees Him. Here is a man who is free from the past, for he has come to be ABLE to forget those things which are behind by the grace of God, and to stretch forth, reach forth, unto those things which are before him, in his sight. He is “running” in the present moment, because he is “receiving” the grace of God. He is KNOWING Christ increasingly, and God is accomplishing through him His purposes for His glory. Paul shall be blessed, and countless multitudes with him, of whom Paul knows little of nothing.
Dear Lord, give us Thy grace to deal with anything in the past, which will hinder us from running in the present moment. Give us to be able to cast ALL care upon Thee, leaving it at Thy feet. Strengthen us to lay aside the sin that would so easily beset us, and enable us to run with free, clean, and liberated hearts in the present, receiving from Thee all that is needful for the doing of Thy will for Thy glory. Then, we shall know Thee TODAY, and Thou shalt be honored, and others shall be blessed through us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad