13 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, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way,

A friend of mine works for the State of Mississippi as a therapist for the State Hospital. He sees new trauma cases everyday, and tells each of them about the “Gumball Rally” “The first rule of Italian Moto-Cross: what is behind you does not matter.” If you want to have the freedom of living by hope, stop looking behind you.

1. Your Sins

You need to forget the bad stuff that is behind you. If you are in Christ, you are not that person anymore, and you need to move beyond it. God does not remember your sins, he does not hold them against you, you need to move beyond them as well.

In my ministry I have done all kinds of counseling for people who have rough sins in their past. Time and again I have heard the heart breaking question from some girl who has sinned and been sinned against – who will want me now? I have had the awesome privilege to announce, In Christ, you are a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come.

You are not an adulteress, or pervert, or divorcee, or addict. You are Christ, you are in him and you are pursuing him.

Some of you still fall prey to that old saying, “I know God has forgiven me, but I can’t forgive myself.” Please do not let your self opinion be God in your life. Listen to what you are saying – my opinion of me matters more than God’s opinion of me.

2. Your Success

Others of you need to move beyond what you see as your “better days.” You look back and remember when you were president of the local campus ministry, or teaching a bible study, or counseling at a summer camp and you say, if only I had now what I had then.

What are you missing? Did Christ love you more back then? You are forgetting the fundamental doctrine of Christianity, justification by faith. You weren’t closer to Christ then, you were just more impressed with yourself then.

You have the opportunity to know Christ much better today than you did back then. Then you believed Jesus was lucky to have you on his team. Today you know you are a sinner in desperate need of his grace. Then you went weeks without missing a quiet time, today you know you are so weak that you can not follow any plan, and he must carry you every step of the way.

Paul prayed and prayed that God would make him strong, but God said no. He said, I like you like that, in your weakness you rely on my grace. There you are safe.

3. The Good Ole Days

Forget what is behind. Forget your sins, forget your success and finally forget the good ole days. This is an important message to get at the beginning of the holiday season. I hope you have good memories of Christmas past. Don’t let those memories destroy Christmas today.

Your best family reunion is in front of you. When you will finally gather with your loved ones who are in the Lord, and you will be able to hug and enjoy them without sin and without sadness. Move toward that day, do not continually get caught up in the attempt to move backwards toward some phantom of the past.