I love that Scripture does not tell the stories of perfect people. In the pages of the bible, we find the stories of men and women who had serious character flaws and who often messed up big time just like we do, and yet were still used by God in amazing ways. I don’t know about you, but I find that to be incredibly encouraging because what it says is that no matter what my life has looked like in the past—in fact, no matter what my life looks like right now—God has the power to turn it around! If we are going to leave a legacy that glorifies God, we need to know that!
In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul wrote, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” The Apostle Paul himself, the author of most of the New Testament, readily admitted that he hadn’t arrived. Paul acknowledged that he hadn’t come to a place where he could say he knew everything, understood everything, had done everything right. No. In this scripture, Paul tells us that there were things in his past that he had to “forget” if he was ever going to be able to attain that which God had set before him. The same applies to each of us.
Have you messed up in the past? Welcome to the club! We all have things in our past that, if we let them, could cause us to hang our heads in shame or cause us to give up hope. For some of us, it’s not just our past that haunts us; it’s what’s going on in our lives right now. The answer? Keep pressing! Keep trusting God! Forget the past! Forge your legacy!
