"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14 ESV
Just thinking about this... the 'prize of the upward call' is IN pressing on not looking back... it is in Christ Jesus who took the blame not in us blaming people (others, ourselves or God) in order to make sense of what happened in the past... the future and upward specifically.... not just outward... the upward call.
Yesterday might not have been what we wanted... the past may seem better than what we have today but we all have this great 'yes and amen' option. The gospel of grace gives us this new and living way.
"As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee." - 2 Corinthians 1:18-22 ESV
"The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you." - Joel 2:24-25 ESV
Let's press forward to what lies ahead together like logs burning brightly stacked together not as lone sputtering smoking branches extinguished and smothered by the wind... not as people looking back pointing fingers at those who seem to be at fault but as people who are in awe of the great God who promises an overflow or blessings in the future.
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