three states of time.

Time can be such a hindrance, can it not? Rarely do I meet someone who has a proper hold on each of the three--past, present, and future. One thing I have noticed, however, is that no matter which one a person is too focused on, his or her present will always be negatively affected. I'd like to us Paul's take on things from Philippians 3:12-14 which says, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or 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."



The past has the potential to be such a snare. Our past experiences, heartbreaks, and successes all contribute to where we are now, but they can easily engulf our purpose for the present and prevent us from making progress. Broken relationships, family abuse, abandonment, devastating news, death, and many other painful things that have marked our pasts not only prove to cripple our present, but determine our future. Patterns are often seen among men who, as boys, were abandoned or abused by their fathers. Sadly, those fearful, wounded boys, many times grow up to abuse or abandon their own families. Their hearts have already been stolen by a fear that determines their future actoins. And those men are just one example. Good things can also have a potentially bad affect. Many parents attempt to relive their high school glory days through the lives of their children. The once captain of the cheerleading squad, now mother, can wrongly push her daughter to embrace the world's love of status and popularity because she doesn't want to see her success fading away.

Paul says that he is forgetting what is behind. So what does that mean? Should we erase our past from our memories? Okay, well obviously no, because that's impossible save the aftermath of brain damage. Perhaps Paul is talking about his individual past, filled with murder, rage, and rebellion from God. But Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." If Paul held on to the sins that he had committed , they would have entangled him and prevented him for fully living for Christ in the present. When he talks about forgetting the past, I think he's talking more about an unloading process. Not only have we all committed sins, but sins have been committed against us, and those are sometimes the hardest to get by. Christ's sacrifice on the cross 2000 years ago forever released us from our pasts, yet sometimes we still try to drag our burdens to heaven with us. We need to lay our crowns at the foot of the cross. Some crowns may be made of thorns that have left scars on our hearts, and some may be adorned with the jewels of our achievements. Whatever they may be contrusted from, they all belong to Jesus.

Planning for the future is something that we should all be doing, but we must not neglect our present statuses and responsibilities. Being a seventeen-year-old girl, I can say that I think about the future, particularly marriage, quite often. I envision what it will be like, and before I know it, I'm in a virtual Home Depot picking out lighting fixtures for our living room. Now, I don't think it's wrong to envision things for the future, but I believe that it can quickly become something that we stake our lives on. If I was set on marriage, and thoughts of a husband filled my mind all the time, what good would I be as a single high school senior? Right now, God has given me a single friend, student, sister, and daughter. I have four jobs. While I can think ahead, I cannot ignore my present responsibilities. God knows the plans he has for me, and he knows what I need and want even better than I think I do. I must obey his Word in the present while I wait for him to reveal what my future holds.

Paul says he is straining toward what is ahead. He has his sights set on his heavenly home and the glorious fullness that he will experience there. But he is currently living so as to attain all of that. He knows that God is deeply concerned with how he lives in the present, so he strains for the future, yet his focus remains steady.

So many people live in the moment, they don't want to think about their past and they don't want to have to plan for or worry about the future. You can't escape the inevitable: the past will shape you. Denying it will only increase the length of the process you'll have to go through in dealing with it. Sometimes we're just too scared, too hurt to dig up things that we've buried in the deepest places inside of us. We don't want to relive and remember things. Or maybe we've had a pretty good life thus far, but we just want something new. In casting aside the blessings we've received, we fail to recognize the goodness which God has lavished upon us. With no concern for the future, there is no regard for the consequences of present actions. An example that pertains to our nation now is our economy's current state. There are those who disregard the instability of finances and live as though there is nothing wrong. They will wish they had planned and used their money more wisely when a bank, stock market, or employing company takes a turn for the worse.

Paul says, "but I press on." Yes, we have had painful wounds and heartbreaking devastation. But I press on. We want the future to come all too soon. But I press on. We must live in the present, acknowledging our past but free from its chains, looking ahead towards the future but fully completely our duties now. Christ's past sacrifice secured my future. With eyes fixed both on the cross and the glory of heaven, I should live well for Christ in the present.