Press On

The other day I had a friend who was discouraged and I texted her this big long thought reminding her of who she was in Christ and encouraging her to not let the enemy beat her up about the past. I can't stand condemnation, self imposed or other imposed because I know that is not from the Lord. It absolutely drives me bananas and I believe it is a tactic the devil uses relentlessly.

As I woke up this morning I found myself feeling sheepish and embarrassed about some of my choices throughout the day yesterday, all boiling down under the category of wanting people's approval. I know that this is an area that God is doing to house cleaning in my heart. So I began telling Jesus how much I needed him and how much I was a mess. I opened my bible study asking God to speak to my heart and the passage for today was Philippians 3:13-14 which says this:

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.

What beautiful encouragement to my heart. "Press on" he said to me. "Yesterday's done. Today is new. Lets move forward not backward." How tender is the heart of my saviour who knows my every thought? The Maker of heaven and earth is beautifully personal! See, I know that when I am rehearsing my faults and failures, that my eyes are not on Jesus. And I know that the more I am focused on myself, the more insecure I'm going to be. I've been fighting this battle for sometime. And I can encourage others with all kinds of truth and authority but for some reason, I haven't been able to hear my own words.

I'm not trying to say that there are no consequences to our actions, but I realized with fresh eyes today that when I'm consumed with me and how I'm acting, good or bad, I'm not pressing toward the prize of Jesus! The greatness of anything good I might ever be able to accomplish, and the despair of any grievous sin I could possibly commit can not compare to the completed work of the cross.

So if the enemy is bullying you that your good is not good enough, or that you bad is just too bad, shut him up by just agreeing with him. Truth is, our good isn't good enough. And our bad is worthy of much worse than we can imagine. But it's not about you and I. And it's not about how good or bad we act. It's all about Jesus and the work he already did.  And he said "It is finished".

So today is a new day. Press on. The goal AND the prize is Jesus.