One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 3:13
There’s an undeniable principle in Scripture that tells me that if I’m going to go forward with God I need to let go of the things that are behind. Often this is not only a mental and emotional forgetting and letting go of the past, but it may also involve a literal change of location.
When the Apostle John was on the island of Patmos he was shown “a door standing open in heaven”. It was not enough for him just to gaze at the spectacle, John was told to “come up”!
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” -Revelation 4.1
John had his feet firmly planted on the island of Patmos and he was told to “Come up here!” I love the imagery. A voice was calling to John to depart the earthly and enter into that which was heavenly.
Take note that the voice spoke to John like a trumpet. The voice that spoke to him did not sound like a saxophone! It was not soft and sensual and calling to him in seductive tones. Trumpets are meant to get you on your feet and wake you up! Jesus had something important that He wanted to show John but it entailed a heavenly vision. He needed to reorientate himself away from the Earth and unto Heaven.
He sees a “door standing open in Heaven” and immediately a voice calls him to come up there! I will not go beyond what is written and say that John physically left the Earth and entered into Heaven. The Word of God tells us that John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” when this happened. So my assumption is that this was some kind of spiritual event. Nevertheless, once John entered into it he was no longer seeing the sands of the island of Patmos!
Going forward always entails leaving something behind. You cannot stay where you are, whether it be mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or physically and expect to go forward.
Letting go as illustrated in the life of Abraham
Perhaps one of the best illustrations of this principle of letting go is found in the life of Abraham.
Abraham had the experience of leaving the only life he ever knew in order to enter into a life he would only be able to discover through the obedience of letting go and going forward. For Abraham that meant actual physical relocation.
And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go out from your land and from your relatives, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you. -Genesis 12:1
God told him to leave the safe and familiar to enter into the unknown; to leave the place where he was, to go to the place God wanted him to be.
And Abraham obeyed and went.
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” -Hebrews 11:8
What would have happened had Abraham refused to go?
The storyline would have ended there and we would have heard nothing more about Abraham. He did not become “the father of faith” by staying where he was.
Had Abraham stayed back in his homeland with his family instead of going forward to the place God was calling him the course of human history would have been altered and the following verse would never have been written.
And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. -Hebrews 11:12
Aren’t you glad that Abraham was willing to let go of what seemed safe and certain? He left the life he knew to go forward into a life he had no idea about.
“And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” -Hebrews 11:8
The determination of Abraham’s heart was that as long as it took, and whatever he had to do, he was going to end up in the place that God wanted him to be.
How many of us have started out in faith, gotten comfortable, and put down roots before getting to the destination? We got tired of living as strangers and exiles! And so we simply stopped. We took off our pilgram clothes and built ourselves a house in this world. We told ourselves we deserved it. “I’ve made the sacrifices. I’ve paid my dues.” We convinced ourselves that the Christian Life isn’t really a pilgrimage after all.
We were once like the main character in Pilgrim’s Progress, only now we’ve stopped making progress!
We were on our way to the Celestial City, but now the light of an earthly village fills our eyes. We kind of like it down here. It has a nice glow. “It’s not so bad”, we say, “and besides, almost everybody I know has settled down here too!”
But then along comes somebody like the Apostle Paul!
He’s sacrificed more than any of us can even imagine. He’s gone farther than we could ever dream of going, yet he hasn’t stopped. The guy is now at the end of his life, he’s an old man, but he keeps running the race! He’s still leaving stuff behind and he’s still straining toward what’s ahead!!
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 3:13
What kind of fanatic is he anyway? Why is he so worked up about heaven? Why is he so consumed with Jesus? And why is he always talking about being crucified to the world?
The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. -Galatians 6:14
Seriously?? Dead to the world?? It feels so radical. Who actually does this???
Still, many of us are fine to cheer him on as long as we don’t have to follow his course.
But instead of the Apostle leaving us on our comfortable sofas as spectators in the Christian Life, he gets in our face and basically tells us to grow up!
All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you -Philippians 3:15
The normal Christian Life is a life that is constantly letting go of that which is in the past and straining toward that which is ahead of us. It’s an upward call, it’s a heavenly trajectory, and if you don’t think that’s the case, Paul says, “God will reveal that also to you.”
When you stop, you die.
Great academic institutions in America that once held forth the flame of Christ are now nothing more than a secular wasteland. Denominations that were once the movers and shakers for the Lord Jesus in the world are now churches in name only. Buildings that once held vibrant congregations who worshipped the Lord with all their heart are now trendy coffee shops or secular daycare centers. The only proof that Christians ever met there is the lonely steeple that remains at the top of the building.
John Wesley was a fiery revivalist preacher who changed the world in which he lived. The Methodist Church was birthed by the Holy Spirit through that man. There was a time in history when the fire of the Holy Spirit burned through the Methodists, but look what John Wesley had to say:
“I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”
The Methodist Church is one of the most liberal denominations in the world today having departed from its former glory long ago! But they are not the sole example of denominations who once burned with passion for the Lord Jesus and eventually fizzled out.
It is a fact of history that God continues to move forward, but it is also a fact of history that people like to stay where they are.
It is an absolute fact that if the presence of God moves forward and you stay behind, you will find yourself without the presence!
When God led the Israelites through the desert by a Pillar of Fire and a Pillar of Cloud, He made one thing perfectly clear- “When I move, you move! When I stay, you stay.”
Whenever the cloud was lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites would set out, and wherever the cloud settled, there the Israelites would camp. At the LORD’s command the Israelites set out, and at the LORD’s command they camped. -Numbers 9:17
What do you think would have happened had they saw the cloud begin to depart and instead of following it stayed right where they were? I can tell you exactly what would have happened. Eventually the cloud would have been so far away that they would have lost sight of it! They would have been sitting in the desert alone! When night time came there would have been no Pillar of Fire. And at the light of day they would have been asking themselves, “Where did The Cloud of Presence go?”
Many denominations have stayed behind when God moved forward and never stopped to ask, “Where did The Cloud of Presence go?”
The same thing happens to individuals.
When Lot’s wife looked back longing for what used to be, instead of going forward in the plan of God for her life, everything stopped, and she became a pillar of salt.
But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. -Genesis 19:26
Her husband and her family went forward and she remained there on the deserted plain only to be eroded by the rains and winds of time.
If the flame of love for Jesus has dimmed and your heart has grown cold you may well ask yourself, “When did I stop going forward? When did I stop letting go? When did my love of comfort and the world surpass my love for Jesus?”
But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first. -Revelation 2:4