Philippians 3:13

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

(v13, NIV)

There's one thing in particular that Paul does in life that we should do as well. He tells us that he forgets what is behind him and strains forward towards what is ahead. If you can picture a race, running the race isn't about how far away the beginning is from you, but much further you have to go to get to the end. Sure, it may be important to know how long the race is and how much energy you've used up so far, but the goal is the finish line. You may look back and remember how painful it was running up that last hill or how earlier you tripped and fell. That may negatively affect how you finish the race. Forget it. Simply look forward at what is ahead.

In our own lives there are many times we will look back in the past. Those may have been good times or they may have been bad times. We may remember good times and think fondly of them. You may even think back to hardships and trials you faced and be proud of how you succeeded. Alternatively, you may become sad thinking of how you failed in the past and have fallen. We've all fallen and we have all sinned. However, even if you did "good" or "bad" in the past, the real question is, what are you doing now? Are you getting better? Are you improving? Don't let the past get you down. We may look back to the times we've failed and that may discourage us from pressing onward in the future. In addition, we may look back to the good times and think that we've already paid our dues. The past may hinder our current and future growth.

This doesn't mean to blot your memories from your mind. We look back to the past and we learn from it. However, that should not happen at the cost of the present. Look forward to the goal, forgetting what lies behind.