31 Dec Looking Backward, Looking Forward

New Year’s Eve

LOOKING BACKWARD, LOOKING FORWARD

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it, but one thing

I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ

Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

The decade of 2020 started with numerous global challenges. It began with the spread of Coronavirus, called Covid-19, which quickly became a global pandemic taking the lives of millions across the globe and causing one of the greatest health crises that we haven’t witnessed in the past hundred years. In addition to many other problems, Covid-19 also caused the global economic recession devastating even the rich nations causing ongoing inflation and its impacts on the supply chain. In the meantime, several countries, primarily Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, have witnessed military occupations. Many other global challenges, including climate change, international conflicts, economic fallout, social inequalities, etc., have characterized the beginning of this decade as a decade of pain and suffering.

As the year 2023 ends, when we look back, there might be more negative memories than positives in our lives as we all have experienced difficulties in the last three years. However, as we look into the new year, which starts tomorrow, we must remember the words of Apostle Paul, who encourages us by saying, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal,” Paul’s life was filled with more pain than ours. When we read his second letter to Corinthians, we understand that he suffered persecution, faced rejection, experienced shipwrecks and dangers on his paths, underwent various hardships of sleeplessness, hunger and thirst, etc. (2 Cor. 11:16-33). Despite all his pains and sufferings, Paul was happy to look into the future with hope. The reason was he fixed his eyes on the end goal, which was not yet achieved and pressed himself on towards that goal like an athlete who strives to reach the goal.

Despite all the negativity surrounding our lives and societies, we still can press forward with hope because, one, we have already survived all the hardships, two, God gives us hope and strength to press forward, and three, we still have to reach

our end goal. Forgetfulness is a blessing in this context. It is important to let the past go and forget our past pains and sufferings. Forgetting the past could heal our souls and bodies. It gives us scope to look into the future with hope.

Paul’s statement about forgetting the past and pressing forward also talks about loads of thankfulness. He was thankful to Christ for his protection and strength to press forward. The very fact that we are still here at the end of 2023 is that we have successfully survived all the hardships and pressed forward. Let us avoid carrying past sorrows and continue to press forward with hope into 2024. By looking backwards and forgetting our past sorrows, and looking forward to keeping our trust in God, let us continue to strive to reach the goal.

prayer

God of hope, as we look forward to the new year, help us forget our past sorrows, fix our eyes upon you, and press on towards the goal. In the name of Jesus, Amen!

for further thought

What do you want to let go of from your past to enter the new year with renewed hope?

Dileep Kumar Kandula

Council for World mission