On the way to the destination
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If you don't know the destination, you can't have the path. (Christian Morgenstern)
1. Two paths with different goals
There are two paths for our life. Jesus tells us to go the right way:
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Matthew 7: 13-14 (ESV)
Jesus prepares his disciples to return to the Father. And when everything is ready, I will come back to take you to me. Then you too will be where I am. You know the way there.
No sir! Thomas contradicted him, we don't even know where you're going! How then are we supposed to find our way there?
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 (ESV)
2. Key statements that, if followed, lead to the goal
Paul wrote to the church in Philippi from prison.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Phillipians 3,12 (ESV)
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.
Philippians 3,13+14 (ESV)
I forget what lies behind me. What was behind it?
- His origins are from the family of Benjamin, an Israelite
- A Pharisee, blameless according to the law
- High education
- Great reputation and appreciation
I don't look at parallel either (For all points see 2 Corinthians 11:24-28)
- the humiliations
- the hardships, deprivations and disappointments
- the prisons
- the stonings and abuse
I want to forgive and forget!
3. What does “what lies behind” mean to us?
- Our origins
- Our training
- Humiliation, insults, insults and disrespect
- Deprivation, lack, scarcity, money worries
- No children, no grandchildren
- Physical ailments
How do we deal with that? Let's do like Paul: forgive and forget the past! I stretch to the one that's in front. I just concentrate on the goal. Stretching also means growing in faith and knowledge.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, Ephesians 4:15 (ESV)
I just concentrate on the goal: be alert and don't allow yourself to be distracted.
But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Luke 21:36 (ESV)
The goal has priority. I firmly reject anything that tries to hinder my running.
Just as the past is made up of many details, so is the future. As a pursuit of the goal, it is composed of a multitude of very different experiences.
A day that tells others that my life is a journey to great eternity.
O eternity so beautiful, let my heart get used to you, my home is not in this time. Gerhard Tersteegen
Author: Edith Waechter
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