In all of our lives are things that we would rather forget. We all have things about which we are not proud, and about which we would like to change. The truth is that none of us can change our past, and can only look to the future. Paul extorts us to let the past to be the past and to live our life in hope for the future. Bro. Hughes asks what should we forget. First he says, forget our past failures. We cannot un break the egg, or un-spill the milk. Whatever has happened has happened. We can agonize over the details, and not change one of them. It is foolish to live life in regret mode. Our future success is hindered by the baggage of the past. We must not be so consumed with what has happened that we forget to focus on what will happen. It isn’t always failures that cause us to live in the past. Some rely on past success and forget to strive for new success. When we hold on to the glory days, we cannot strive for new victories.

There is more to what Paul said than just to forget the past. He said forgetting those things that are behind AND reaching for those things that are before. It is not enough to forget the past, but we must also reach for the future. In the original Greek, the words mean to literally leap forward. Reaching declares that we have something to live for. When we begin reaching for what God has before us, we are saying to God that we believe that He has the answer to our challenges and faith that He will deliver on His promise. Whatever may have happened in the past, this text tells us that with God, the best is yet to come.