Bible Reading: 2 Chron. 4; Phil. 3:11-21
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do , forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,” – Philippians 3:13 (KJV).
The Christian Journey is a race for the present. It is not on what you have done in the past but what you are doing now and what you may do in the future.
So no one can afford to rest on his oars. Apostle Paul expresses this better in Philippians 3:13 (KJV), “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do , forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,”
The Christian race is how you end the race and not how well you have done in the past or how badly you had performed. Thus, someone like Apostle Paul who had been involved in killing some saints in the past ended up writing most of the books in the New Testament and became an itinerant evangelist, moving from one place to the other. He decided to end well irrespective of how he started. No wonder he could confidently say he was ready to go. In his second letter to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:6-7 (KJV), Apostle Paul said: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”
We should therefore be concerned on how to continuously live for Christ irrespective of what we had done in the past. This will involve:
1. Checking daily what we have done each day; identifying the errors, correcting the mistakes and asking for mercy.
2. identifying what needs to be done going forward and how it will be done as well as when it would be done in the agenda of God for our lives.
3. Reviewing the impact of our actions on the society and moderating them to ensure they have the desired impact.
Interestingly, there is so much land yet to be conquered for Christ and very few labourers are available. So, we need to apply ourselves to reach the unreached world for Christ while doing regular spiritual check on ourselves.
Prayer: Review your work for God, identify the deficiencies and emplace a plan to correct them and move forward in Christ.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero