Earlier today on Bellshill Salvation Army Band’s Facebook page I shared the devotions I shared at band practice a couple of weeks ago. I’d like to share those devotions with you tonight.
As 2024 ended and 2025 began, I’m sure we all took time to think about all that 2024 sent our way. Whether last year was full of negatives or positives, we will have been able to reflect on where our life has been, where it is, and where we want it to be. Deep down inside of us we know that our lives are not all doomed to fate as we know that our attitudes and actions influence the direction our lives go in.
In my own devotions last week, I read some verses from Philippians which I found helpful as I looked back over 2024 and look ahead to whatever 2025 holds.
I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be.
Philippians 3:12-14 (Living Bible)
No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.
In these verses Paul admits he isn’t perfect but is continuing to work towards being who God wants him to be.
I am a perfectionist and therefore expect the best/perfection from me in all I do – I am disappointed and a little frustrated almost all the time, as I continually fail to live up to my own expectations. But isn’t that just what Paul was saying about himself? God was OK with Paul not achieving perfection, and He is alright with our flaws and failings.
The other part of this bible reading that I was drawn to is where Paul says, “I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past” – Paul is saying that there can be no significant improvement in his life until he forgets what has happened in the past; that he must forgive and forget what lies behind him before he can move forward.
That can be really difficult sometimes can’t it, particularly when we’ve been hurt or upset by the words or actions of others. But as Paul has said, we need to move on from everything in the past, good or bad, as this will allow us to move forward in our relationship with God. Any hurts or disappointments we’ve had to bear in the past, we must forgive and forget, so we too can look to the future.
As we start this new year, it’s a great time for each of us to follow Paul’s advice in our own lives and “Forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead” so that we can keep looking forward “toward the only goal that counts: to cross the line, to win the prize, and to hear God’s call to resurrection life found exclusively in Jesus” (Philippians 3:14 The Voice).
The Distinct Dot 