MONDAY

Nov 7, 2022
2 min read

I woke up this morning hoping for a brand-new day. I’d like today to be different than last Monday, or different than any day last week for that matter. Lord, please help me start this week with a day that is different than the rest.

Philippians 3:13-4:1

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

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. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

Today I want to choose to put the past behind me. What’s done is done. Today is a new day. Paul reminds me this is exactly what I need to do. The past has a purpose—it brought me to this exact moment in time. However, my focus needs to be on the future… “straining toward what is ahead.” Focusing on what’s ahead is how I will achieve what Christ is calling me to do.

Paul states that those who look ahead are mature. And if on some point I think differently (from the world), this may be confusing to me, but God will make it clear. Those different thoughts which teach me faith are from God.

The life God desires follows a pattern. The first step in this pattern is accepting Jesus as my Savior. Those who do not accept Christ live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Those who accept Christ as their Savior have a citizenship in heaven.

THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS: If I’m a citizen of heaven, then I’m just visiting this earth—it’s like a foreign place, where people speak differently, act differently, and have a different culture. How much have I allowed myself to blend into the culture of this world just to be accepted?

May you be blessed,

Chaplain Wayne Ruckman