There are two enemies
that all men face.
One follows him for
his entire lifetime, the endless pursuer for all to see. The other looms ahead,
in the shadows of the unknown, waiting to attack. The first can never be outrun,
the second can never be caught.
Who are they?
The past and the present.
For many their past
looms over them. They can’t seem to escape the misdeeds of times gone by.
Others are controlled by their fear of the future. What could go wrong, what horrors
lurk ahead?
These enemies see
too much to overcome.
Consider however the
line Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “ What lies behind us and what lies before
us are small matters compared to what lies within us”.
Paul would have
agreed. In Philippians 3:13-14, he wrote, “ Brethren,
I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of
the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”.
Paul had a past. He didn’t let it define him.
Paul's future was uncertain. He didn’t worry. As he said later “in any and every circumstance I have learned
the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and
suffering need. I can do all things
through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:12-13).
Where you have been
and what happens next are small matter if Christ is in us. He can fix the past
and knows the future. If we are in Him and He is in us, those enemies don’t stand
much of a chance.
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