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Chapter Four: Looking Forward

Forgetting what is behind…I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13–14)

Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. (Soren Kierkegaard)¹⁹

A lot of people live in the past, and at times we hear them say, “what if” or “if only.” Others simply reminisce and fail to look to the future and all that lies ahead.

If we allow the past to be the present focus of our life, we simply live out our days reminiscing or moaning about our failures or lost opportunities, and we never look forward to the new opportunities and challenges that are before us. Steven Jobs at 30 years of age was fired from Apple. In 2005, he spoke of this experience at the commencement at Stanford University. This is what he said to these young graduates as they embarked on their future:

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life…When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.²⁰

How often have you said, “what if” or “if only”? We may have regrets about decisions we have made and how the outcome negatively affected our life, or perhaps we never took risks and simply lived life in the “safe zone.” Now we wonder what would have happened “if only I had…” or “what if” circumstances were different—would I have made other decisions?

Living in the present is about the here and now, making the most of the situations you find yourself in. Living in the future is about planning for your tomorrows, seeing the path your life is on and evaluating its direction to determine if it is going to give your life the meaning you want or desire.

Are you living in the past, bemoaning lost opportunities, or are you choosing to live each day to the fullest with your eye on the future?

The apostle Paul was a forward-living person. He wrote,

Not that I…have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12–14)

Paul chose to live each day with his eye toward the future because he saw that life was about “one thing.” Imagine being so focused that there is only one thing that really matters, and it is the driving force of your life. Most have so many competing loyalties that life is not focused but fragmented and scattered, and consequently we are pulled in many different directions. Imagine being able to say like Paul “one thing I do.”

In the Old Testament there is an amazing story of a young Jewish woman named Esther. Her life was about “one thing.” At the time of Esther the Jews were living in exile in Persia. The ruler, King Xerxes, wanted to display his wife before all his guests at a prestigious banquet he was giving. The queen refused to be treated as an object of display, and as a result the king in anger had her removed from his presence forever. A search to replace the queen was conducted, and it concluded when the king was attracted to the young Jewish woman Esther and crowned her queen.

Now Esther had been raised by her uncle, Mordecai, who told her to keep her family background and nationality a secret. One of the royal officials, a man called Haman, was not only a high ranking official in the government but also close to the king. This man loved to be acknowledged by the masses, and he expected everyone to bow before him whenever he went out in public. One man, a Jew named Mordecai, refused to bow or pay him honour. This infuriated Haman to such a degree that he devised a plot to exterminate all the Jews in the entire kingdom of Xerxes. He had the king issue an edict that stated they were to “kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and little children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods” (Esther 3:13). All the Jews were in great distress and turmoil.

Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, approached her and told her she was the one hope for the entire nation. Only she could change the mind of the king. In fact, even though she was the queen, her life would not be spared, because she too was Jewish! Then Mordecai spoke to Esther words that have resonated throughout the centuries: “Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). Esther was challenged by Mordecai’s words and replied, “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16). Suddenly her life became focused; it was all about one thing—saving a nation!

Most are not called to save a nation, but like the apostle Paul our life can become so focused that we can say, “One thing I do!” To be able to do this we will need to discover what is really important, and to do that we may have to get rid of some baggage we carry around from the past.

Paul said he needed to forget the past. What was there about his past that could hinder his moving forward? First, he had his reputation. He was an ardent Jew; he kept all the requirements of the law, and he was zealous in his persecution of the church. He consented to the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and he was involved in the rounding up and incarceration of the followers of Jesus. Could he let go of these memories of the terrible things he did in his past, or would they remain etched forever in his mind, constantly reminding him that he had been a zealous but misguided religious fanatic?

There were others aspects of his life that he would need to let go. When he became a follower of Jesus he discovered many other challenges that could have had a negative effect on him and easily become the focus of his life. Paul summarized his life experiences:

What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. (2 Corinthians 11:21–23)

Paul knew there were some who were envious of him and the success he had in establishing churches though out Asia Minor. Knowing himself as he did, it would have been easy for Paul to assume that he was more committed to the cause of Christ than anyone else. He had to let all of this go if he was to do “one thing” and not allow pride to control his life.

Jeremy Lin of the New York Nicks had to focus on one thing. Eryn Sun of Christian Post tells how Lin struggled in his early basketball career.²¹ Receiving no athletic scholarship offers out of high school and being turned down by his first-choice school, Stanford University, Lin decided after six months of prayer to enroll at Harvard.

When Lin was not selected in the 2010 NBA draft after graduating from Harvard, Donnie Nelson, the president of basketball operations for the Dallas Mavericks and a committed Christian, called him and told him that God had a perfect plan for him.

Later Lin received offers to play on multiple teams, including the Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. In the end, he signed with the Warriors, then was released after a year without much opportunity to play.

Eventually the New York Nicks claimed Lin off waivers but assigned him to Erie BayHawks of the D-League. After a while he was called up to fill in for injured Nicks’ players, and he became an overnight sensation when he helped secure seven consecutive wins for the Nicks. He was the first NBA player to score at least 20 points and 7 assists in each of his first 4 starts.

His fame began to rise. Despite the recent fame and popularity, Lin remained committed to his game, his team and his faith. He stated,

God’s given me a unique platform and right now I am trying to use it in the right way…I can use national television, I can use the media in a way to talk about my faith, to talk about how much God has done in my life, and not what I’ve done to make it to the NBA.

He admits that he struggles with pride, but he constantly reminds himself that his identity lies in Christ and not his NBA career. He states,

I’m not playing for anything on this earth, I’m playing for my prize in heaven, for the upward call that Paul talks about, that’s what I need to remind myself every day when I wake up. I [have] to really understand that I’m not playing for all my fans, for my family, even for myself, I really have to play to glorify God…And when other people see me play basketball…the way I treat my teammates, the opponents, the refs, that’s all a reflection of God’s image and God’s love so that’s the stuff I try to focus on.

Every day Jeremy Lin must forget the struggles of the past and let go of the success of the present and focus on “one thing,” playing for the glory of God.

Paul said, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize” (Philippians 3:14). It was an intentional effort on his part. He did not live in the past, he did not keep looking over his shoulder, he kept moving forward. Was he successful? At the end of his life he would clearly state,

The time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6–8)

As he reflected on his life Paul was able to say that he did not become discouraged and decide to quit. Despite various obstacles he ran the race and remained true and faithful to Christ, and as a result of his faithfulness he knew there was laid up for him a “crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8). This crown is eternal life.

This is the promise of God for all who keep looking forward with one focus in life and remain faithful to their calling as followers of Jesus Christ.

There are things in the past we need to forget. There are things in our past that are both good and bad that can overshadow the future, and we miss the eternal perspective that God intends for us. We need to be moving forward. Take some time to consider your journey of life. Are you living in the past, or do you live with an eye to the future, enjoying every moment God gives to you?

David Livingston was born into a working class family in Blantyre, Scotland, and at the age of 10 he started working at a cotton mill for 14 hours a day. At night he would study, and through Scotland’s enlightened higher education system he studied medicine, first at Anderson College, Glasgow, and then at the British and Foreign Medical School in England. The year he graduated from medical school he was ordained a missionary by the London Missionary Society, and he set out for South Africa. From 1841 until his death in 1873 Livingston’s aim was to bring Christianity to Africa and to end the slave trade.