HOUSE OF ROBERTS BLOG

This past weekend at church the Pastor in his message said “The best of you is in front of you not behind you.” He was calling us to keep our eyes ahead of us in the present with the Lord and stop looking behind. It wasn’t the main point of his message but man did the Holy Spirit highlight it to me. A couple of weeks ago at our church’s Thursday Night prayer, I was in worship and the Lord spoke this phrase to my heart “Lay hold” I knew this was a Biblical word so I went right to my Bible.

Philippians 3: 12-14 says, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

A few verses before this in Vs. 7-11 it says, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

I consider ALL I have acquired up to this point GARBAGE that I may GAIN Christ. Okay, that’s my paraphrase but that’s essentially what He is saying. Paul is saying, “Hey from an accolade standpoint of things I have done A LOT for Christ in the past, but I don’t boast in that, actually I consider it garbage so that I may keep in leaning to know Christ greater to follow him deeper.” What he is saying is, “THE BEST ME IS IN FRONT OF ME.”

I think it is really easy to build a trophy case of things we have done and acquired along the way in serving Christ. It’s really easy to gain so much pride for the things our hands have built with Christ up to this point. Although I don’t think this is bad AT ALL because we should feel good about the things we have done with him. I do think it becomes bad when we LIVE in that place and stop pressing in and LAYING HOLD of what Christ Laid Hold for us! The “Laying Hold” never ends for us, at least not until we are back with Jesus in heaven.

Paul uses such strong language here “I consider it garbage” that I may know Christ more. I know it’s intense but I sense it’s how it has to be so that we don’t elevate our “trophy case” over knowing God deeper. It’s easy to do this because the line can feel blurry. Sometimes God will ask you to walk away from things He helped you build. He will ask you to give away something that He put in your hands, He will ask you to stop doing something He once asked you to do. It’s easy in life to serve the hand of God over the voice of God. I believe it’s why God asks us at times to put things down that He gave us. Why? Because He wants to know which one you serve. He wants to know that you are committed to “Laying Hold” of him more than what He has placed in your hand. 

I had this moment at the beginning of the year when we went to a Pastors' Conference we have gone to for years with our staff and Pastors. I knew this year was going to feel different because we had just recently obeyed God and let go of our positions of Executive Pastor that we had held for so long. To be honest the very conference I was looking forward to most years I was dreading this year because I knew it was going to hurt to see what once was. The first night of the conference I had this hard moment where I was sitting high up in the auditorium looking down on the front row seats I once had. In my heart and with tears in my eyes I said, “Wow Lord, so this is where I am now… all the way up here?” Immediately He responded to my heart and said “You laid it all down for me, and I couldn’t be prouder.” I’m not telling this story to brag about how good we are. I am sharing this story because sometimes we think God only calls us out of bad places into the good, but sometimes He calls you out of the good to make sure your heart wants Him more. He challenges you to believe that when this is the case, what He is putting into your hands now is better than the “good” you once had.

Hey Mom… Consider it Garbage… Forgetting what is behind to lay hold of what lies ahead for you and your family. I am praying for a Holy conviction to encompass us so that our eyes would be fixed on the present and what God is doing right now in and through us. That we would want HIM more than anything that He put in our hands yesterday. Remember the best of you is in front of you, not behind you.