War of the worlds
Two worlds one choice
Phil. 3:12-14
Letting go of the past
July 17, 2005
One of the hottest movies out this summer is War of the Worlds. It is a remake of the 50’s movie by H.G. Wells. I wanted to kick off a summer sizzler series using a popular movie to illustrate biblical truth. I am not advocating, promoting or endorsing this movie for any reason. My intent is to use scenes from this movie to illustrate God’s truth concerning decision making in our lives. So I have chosen a few for the next three weeks that I believe will give us greater understanding to God’s truth.
Ray, a divorced father of two, played by Tom Cruise, is the main character of the story. At one point in the movie he and his two kids were running to escape the alien invaders. They came to a hilltop in a country field where the US military set up a perimeter to hold back the enemy.
Ray’s 16 year old son decides he wants to fight along side the soldiers and runs for the top of the hill. Ray tells his six year old daughter to wait for him by some trees while he runs after his son. As he wrestles his son to the ground to prevent him from going he notices some people trying to run off with his daughter.
He had to make a decision in that moment. To fight his son and save him or let him go and save his daughter.
Although most of us may never have to make a life or death decision like that we still face mountains of decisions on a daily basis. Should I stay or should I go? Should I buy or sell that? Should I say something or hold my tongue? Whatever the question is we are asking, we must make a decision that we will have to live with the consequences for.
That is where I want to pick up God’s word and see what He has to say about regrets and decision making.
Philippians 3:12-14 – “12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”[1]
Do you ever have regrets? Of course we all do. But do you know how to live in spite of your regrets?
Do you still live with the pain of your past?
During the 18th century, Dr. Johann Beringer, professor of natural philosophy at the University of Wurzburg, Germany, was obsessed with his pet topic. The topic: fossils were capricious fabrications of God. And so his students went to work.
They made and implanted in a nearby hill hundreds of grotesque clay tablets including one actually signed by Jehovah. The doctor was so convinced of the “find” that he published a book on the subject, steadily ignoring the confessions of his students. He thought his students were trying to rob him of his conclusion and glory.
It was not until he discovered stones bearing his own name that he realized the hoax. For the rest of his life, he spent whatever fortune he had gathered in trying to buy back the existing copies of his own book.
Paul said in verses 10 and 11 “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
But in vs. 12 he says “not that I have done this.” He too was facing regrets but he didn’t let that stop him from finishing the race.
I have met far too many people who use their past upbringing or situations as excuses to act badly or to not act at all. That is really unfortunate. Because God has and does want to set us free to run toward the goal. He has a purpose for our lives that we forfeit every time we let our past mistakes dominate our decisions.
Paul didn’t do that. In verse 13 he writes, “but this one thing I do, forgetting what is behind…”
Do you get that? He has one thing he is working on. He is focused on the present and future.
That is not as simple as it is being said is it?
William James once said, “In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important a function as remembering…If we remember everything, we should on most occasions be as ill as if we remembered nothing.”
So how is it we can forget our past disappointments so readily?
Paul, in this verse, was more than likely alluding to a runner whose face is set on the finish line. To forget our past is as a runner who forgets his opponents who are following him in the race. He is focused on one thing the finish line and the prize that follows.
In vs. 14 Paul says, “I press on”. He’s not giving up, giving in, going away, or falling back but pressing on. In the face of pressure, disappointment and regret he has disciplined himself to move forward. We too must learn this discipline of moving forward in the face of opposition if we are to finish the race.
Galations 6:9 – “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
John Maxwell wrote a book 5 years ago entitled “Failing Forward”. The premise of the book is if you are going to fall do it with forward momentum. Learn from your mistakes. Don’t let the past hold you down.
So what is the finish line for a Christian? What is the prize?
In a very real sense the finish line and the prize are both the same: Jesus. Being like him and being with him. What a great mystery that is.
I Peter 1:13 says “Therefore, prepare your mind for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
We should live this life in such a way that Jesus can be glorified through it.
Peter goes on to say in 2:11 – “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, thought they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
All of our hope must be in Jesus Christ alone. We cannot put it in any other person because they will let us down, they won’t always be there. Don’t put it in things, because they rust, rot, and can be stolen. They have nothing to save you with. Despair and regret come when we place our trust in anything other than God.
So Paul in a very practical way tells us, to focus completely on Christ and we can over come the regrets we have from our poor decisions in life. We all have regrets but not all of us let those regrets drag us down. Put your hope in Christ today and renew your trust in him.
[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Php 3:12). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Two worlds one choice
Phil. 3:12-14
Letting go of the past
July 17, 2005
One of the hottest movies out this summer is War of the Worlds. It is a remake of the 50’s movie by H.G. Wells. I wanted to kick off a summer sizzler series using a popular movie to illustrate biblical truth. I am not advocating, promoting or endorsing this movie for any reason. My intent is to use scenes from this movie to illustrate God’s truth concerning decision making in our lives. So I have chosen a few for the next three weeks that I believe will give us greater understanding to God’s truth.
Ray, a divorced father of two, played by Tom Cruise, is the main character of the story. At one point in the movie he and his two kids were running to escape the alien invaders. They came to a hilltop in a country field where the US military set up a perimeter to hold back the enemy.
Ray’s 16 year old son decides he wants to fight along side the soldiers and runs for the top of the hill. Ray tells his six year old daughter to wait for him by some trees while he runs after his son. As he wrestles his son to the ground to prevent him from going he notices some people trying to run off with his daughter.
He had to make a decision in that moment. To fight his son and save him or let him go and save his daughter.
Although most of us may never have to make a life or death decision like that we still face mountains of decisions on a daily basis. Should I stay or should I go? Should I buy or sell that? Should I say something or hold my tongue? Whatever the question is we are asking, we must make a decision that we will have to live with the consequences for.
That is where I want to pick up God’s word and see what He has to say about regrets and decision making.
Philippians 3:12-14 – “12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”[1]
Do you ever have regrets? Of course we all do. But do you know how to live in spite of your regrets?
Do you still live with the pain of your past?
During the 18th century, Dr. Johann Beringer, professor of natural philosophy at the University of Wurzburg, Germany, was obsessed with his pet topic. The topic: fossils were capricious fabrications of God. And so his students went to work.
They made and implanted in a nearby hill hundreds of grotesque clay tablets including one actually signed by Jehovah. The doctor was so convinced of the “find” that he published a book on the subject, steadily ignoring the confessions of his students. He thought his students were trying to rob him of his conclusion and glory.
It was not until he discovered stones bearing his own name that he realized the hoax. For the rest of his life, he spent whatever fortune he had gathered in trying to buy back the existing copies of his own book.
Paul said in verses 10 and 11 “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
But in vs. 12 he says “not that I have done this.” He too was facing regrets but he didn’t let that stop him from finishing the race.
I have met far too many people who use their past upbringing or situations as excuses to act badly or to not act at all. That is really unfortunate. Because God has and does want to set us free to run toward the goal. He has a purpose for our lives that we forfeit every time we let our past mistakes dominate our decisions.
Paul didn’t do that. In verse 13 he writes, “but this one thing I do, forgetting what is behind…”
Do you get that? He has one thing he is working on. He is focused on the present and future.
That is not as simple as it is being said is it?
William James once said, “In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important a function as remembering…If we remember everything, we should on most occasions be as ill as if we remembered nothing.”
So how is it we can forget our past disappointments so readily?
Paul, in this verse, was more than likely alluding to a runner whose face is set on the finish line. To forget our past is as a runner who forgets his opponents who are following him in the race. He is focused on one thing the finish line and the prize that follows.
In vs. 14 Paul says, “I press on”. He’s not giving up, giving in, going away, or falling back but pressing on. In the face of pressure, disappointment and regret he has disciplined himself to move forward. We too must learn this discipline of moving forward in the face of opposition if we are to finish the race.
Galations 6:9 – “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
John Maxwell wrote a book 5 years ago entitled “Failing Forward”. The premise of the book is if you are going to fall do it with forward momentum. Learn from your mistakes. Don’t let the past hold you down.
So what is the finish line for a Christian? What is the prize?
In a very real sense the finish line and the prize are both the same: Jesus. Being like him and being with him. What a great mystery that is.
I Peter 1:13 says “Therefore, prepare your mind for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
We should live this life in such a way that Jesus can be glorified through it.
Peter goes on to say in 2:11 – “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, thought they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
All of our hope must be in Jesus Christ alone. We cannot put it in any other person because they will let us down, they won’t always be there. Don’t put it in things, because they rust, rot, and can be stolen. They have nothing to save you with. Despair and regret come when we place our trust in anything other than God.
So Paul in a very practical way tells us, to focus completely on Christ and we can over come the regrets we have from our poor decisions in life. We all have regrets but not all of us let those regrets drag us down. Put your hope in Christ today and renew your trust in him.
[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Php 3:12). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
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