God did not create you for time; H e created you for eternity. Time— your lifetime on
earth— provides the opportunity for you to become acquainted w ith Him. It provides j
occasions for H im to develop your character into His likeness.Then eternity will hold |
its fullest dimensions for you. j
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If you live only for time— the here and now— you will miss the ultimate purpose of creation. If you live for time, you will allow your past to shape your life today. Your life as a child of God ought to be shaped by the future— what you will be one day. God uses your present experiences to mold you for future usefulness here on earth and in eternity.
What are some things in your past that have a strong limiting influence on your life today? These may include handicaps; a troubled family back ground; failures; shame over a personal or family secret; past abuse; or things like pride, success, fame, recognition, or excessive wealth.
D o you think you are primarily being shaped by your past or by your future? W hy?_____________________________________________________
I was speaking at a conference w hen a woman approached me and recounted the heartbreaking story o f how her father had abandoned her and her family. She described her feelings o f worthlessness, abandonment, and rejection. For years she was consumed with finding her father and convincing him she was not worthless and he should take her back. “Then one day I found my Father,” she said. “H e was at the back o f the
Experiencing God book.” She had been studying Experiencing God and had come to the
list o f the names o f God. She realized her Heavenly Father had always loved her and had been seeking a love relationship with her. H er Heavenly Father set her free from the bondage to which her earthly father had consigned her.
Paul had to overcome his difficult personal history too. Here was his approach to dealing with his past and present:
4 If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh,
I have m ore: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, o f the people o f Israel, o f
the tribe o f Benjamin, a Hebrew o f Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteous ness, faultless.
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake o f Christ. 8W hat is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness o f knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness o f my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ— the righteous ness that comes from God and is by faith .101 want to know Christ and the power o f his resurrection and the fellowship o f sharing in his suffer ings, becoming like him in his d eath," and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12N o t that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold o f that for w hich Christ Jesus
took hold o f me. l3Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken
hold o f it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:4-14).
Answer the follow ing questions, based on Paul’s statement in Philippians 3:4-14.
a. W hat are some things in Paul’s past that could have influenced his present?
M a t t h e w 6 : 1 9 - 2 1 , 3 3 “ Do not store up for your
selves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaver), where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break In and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. But seek first Ins kingdom and his righteousness, and all these thing s will be given to you as well."
SUM M ARY STATEMENTS
To be loved by God is the highest relationship, the highest achievement, and the highest position in life. God did not create me for time; He created me for eternity.
I will let my present be molded and shaped by w h at I am to become in Christ, “ Seek first his kingdom
and his righteo usness,” I will make s u r e I a m invest ing in th in g s th a t are lasting.
b. H ow did Paul value these things (v. 8)?
c.W hy did Paul discredit his past this way (w. 8-11)?
d.W hat did Paul do to prepare for a future prize (w. 13-14)? Forget _____________________________________________ Strain toward _
Press on toward
Answers: (a) Paul was true and faithful to his heritage as a Jew from the tribe o f Benja min. H e was faultless in keeping the laws o f the Pharisees. H e was zealous for God. (b) H e considered them rubbish and loss, (c) Paul wanted to know Christ, to be found in Him, and to become like H im to attain a future blessing (resurrection from the dead), (d) H e forgot the past. H e strained toward the future. H e pressed toward the future goal o f a heavenly prize.
Pauls desire was to know Christ and to become like Him.You too can so order your life under G od’s direction that you come to know Him , love Him, and become like Christ. Let your present be m olded and shaped by what you are to become in Christ.You were created for eternity!