Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, Ipress on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14, NASB)
One of the greatest attributes that we can incorporate in our golf game is to forget the last shot or the last round and move on. Forget about what might have been and concentrate on the opportunity for success now. We are blessed when we can pour all our energy into the next shot.
I am learning a lot from a Links Fellowship that I attend. We meet every week and a few weeks ago, our scriptures for study and discussion were the verses under consideration today. We study a few verses and are challenged with three areas of discussion: 1) If these verses were a movie, what would the title be? 2) What is the key verse? 3) What is the application—what are we going to do about what we have learned?
Sounds good to me, but here is the rub. It is so hard to do. Forget the past? Paul struggled with this as well. The Living Bible translation says, “No dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13, TLB).
All of Paul’s energies were brought to bear on this one thing, and he still struggled. He tried and he failed. Many times he failed. My good friend, Tim Philpot, claims that this proves that Paul was a golfer. He points to this verse as proof: “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15, NASB).
So what is my point? Do we simply say that this is too tough and continue on along the way while citing other great failures like the apostle Paul? No, I believe we are honest with God and ask and plead for his help. We remember that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. We ask for supernatural help with the gift of the Holy Spirit. We actually use what God has freely given us as believers. We use what we have. One theologian once summed up this gift of the Holy Spirit and our ability to use this gift with these words: “The Holy Spirit is always enough. We need not ask for more, but we should never settle for less.”
By the way, my movie title for Philippians 3:13-14 was Back to the Future. The future is our goal and our reward. The hope of the future gets me past the failures of yesterday. I have been forgiven and washed clean with the blood of the Lamb. I also love the line about the future from the movie Seabiscuit when the press was applauding the horse’s past performances and all his victories: “Gentlemen, this is not the finish line. The future is the finish line.”
The future for a follower of Jesus starts at salvation, not death. Forgiving others and especially ourselves is a good start. The late writer Lewis Smedes believed that “to forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” Satan’s task is to make us remember our past failures, while our Father holds out his outstretched arms and invites us to stumble into his arms, assuring us we will not fall. My advice for all of us matches Paul’s: Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. See you at the finish line!
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Randy Wolff
September 3, 2012
Copyright 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.