Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, 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)

Accomplishment. You know the feeling, right? You win the game, you do well on the test, you nail the speech, you make the team, you get accepted into the college that’s your first choice AND get scholarships. It’s a good feeling, isn’t it? It’s one you want to hang on to for a while.

Regret. You know that feeling too, don’t you? That pit in your stomach when you know your words hurt someone you care about, when you let down a friend, when you fall short of a goal. Regret is the feeling that we get when we don’t get a good outcome in life. Regrets hurt; you’d prefer to be able to let go of them quickly and easily.

Now, even though accomplishment and regret are feelings that we might call opposites, they do share one thing in common. They’re both rooted in the past. You see, every one of us has a past. We all have places we’ve lived, things we’ve done, people we’ve known, conversations we’ve had, and in that past, every one of us has our own list of accomplishments and regrets. So, what are we to do with them? The answer that the Apostle Paul gives us today in this section of Philippians is quite simple. To the extent that it’s going to cloud your vision, he directs us to forget the past.

Paul had quite the list of accomplishments and regrets, too. It’s believed that he wrote Philippians later on in his life, while sitting in Rome in some form of imprisonment. By this time, he had started churches all over the Roman Empire. He had written most of his letters to congregations that we know as the Epistles, which make up about half of the New Testament. He had shared the gospel with thousands, or even tens of thousands, seen hundreds if not thousands come to faith, and had endured great opposition and suffering for the name of Jesus but had remained faithful to him. He certainly had his share of accomplishments. But he also was the one who was giving approval when Stephen was executed for faith in Jesus Christ. He was also the one who had gone on special trips to arrest and punish Christians, and who single-handedly sought to end the whole “Jesus following” that had sprung up in Jerusalem and Galilee. Yes, he had his share of regrets too. But he could forget them all.

Here’s why this matters: If we live in our past accomplishments, the great things that we’ve done or that God has done through us, we easily become proud. We start to think that we must really be something, that God must be really glad to have people like me working for him. We may start subtly believing that it’s our good works that bring us close to God. Or if we live in our regrets, we become plagued with fear or even despair. We wonder if God could really accept us, if he really does love us, and if our regrets of the past are all we’ll ever be.

When it comes to your past, both the accomplishments and the regrets, the message is the same: forget about them. Not because the accomplishments weren’t great or there’s nothing to learn from the regrets. No, You can forget about them because you have the same Savior that Paul does. You have the same Jesus who was perfect in your place, who earned your worthiness before God. You have the same Jesus who took all of your regrets – every single one – and died on a cross for all of them. And now, by faith in this Jesus, you too are accepted by God and forgiven of all your sin. Your past doesn’t earn you anything before God, nor does it give you a record you cannot escape, so you can forget the past.

And forgetting the past allows you to focus all your attention and all your effort on going forward – forward to the goal of eternal life. The Christian life is like a race – but it’s not a race where the goal is to finish first. It’s a race where the goal is just to finish. And what does that take? It takes pressing on, leaning into your God-given identity that isn’t based on your accomplishments or failures. You just keep moving forward, even when it’s hard. Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, you strive to feed your faith, to grow in God’s Word, to war against temptation, to call out to him in prayer, and to serve God in all you do. Some days will go great. Others won’t go great at all but each day you can get up and keep moving forward because the previous day’s successes or failures don’t define you. Jesus does.

In your baptism he washed your sins away, made you a child of God and clothed you with his righteousness and perfection. He saw to it that your faith in him was fed. He’s brought you this far in your life, and he will be with you to give you the strength you need to keep going, to finish the race and reach the goal of eternal life.

So when it gets in the way of your race, forget the past. No matter how great or not great it was, it does not define you. Jesus does. And in him, you can press on toward the goal of eternal life. Amen.

Prayer:
Heavenly father, help us to not live in the past – whether it is accomplishments or regrets. Instead lead us to see by faith that you accept us because of what Jesus your son accomplished for us, and that all our regrets are forgiven in your sight, washed away in Jesus blood. Strengthen us to press on toward the goal of eternal life, to live each day as your children – resisting temptation, calling out in prayer, growing in your Word, and serving you in all we do. Grant this in Jesus name, Amen.