Still Going & Going

You have seen the Energizer Bunny. That joker is always on the go! I mean, where is he going? I don’t know but I wish he would get there already! Is he ever going to get there? Good thing he isn’t traveling with kids, huh?(Are we there yet? Are we there yet? I gotta go! I’m hungry!) IDK where he is going, but he is having one awesome journey isn’t he? I mean he has been everywhere! So I guess the point of the commercial is not his destination, but rather the journey and of course how the batteries are strong enough to keep him on the move; even strong enough help others keep moving. (Remember the UFO commercial?)
The Christian life is kinda like this. We should grow from and enjoy the journey. The journey is an important part of who we become in Christ. We should stay plugged into our source of power that keeps us going. But this is where the illustration seems to break down. For this pink bunny the destination doesn’t matter and doesn’t even seem to exist. For us the destination is the best part of the journey; along with helping others get there. Not that the journey and the power to keep going are not important, because those things are what keep us going. (The whole A+B=C thing) But they also come as a result of the destination. We keep on the journey because we see the destination and the power to keep going hails from the destination. So the destination is what keeps us going & going.
Along this journey we have three focal points: Looking back, looking down, or looking forward. Usually we are going to be moving in the direction we are looking. Philippians 3:12-14 illustrates this well.
Looking back at what lies behind (v. 12). The journey we have taken thus far is behind us. We have had past progress. We have had good days. A season in life is measured by what it leaves behind and we have left behind some pretty cool stuff. It is okay to cherish and learn from the past journey. We cannot live there. The past journey is what has gotten us to the point we are at now, but it alone will not get us any further.
There needs to be some time looking down at what lies underfoot (v. 13a). We need to look at where we are. We need to have an understanding of our current situation and abilities. We need to asses where we to go next and stay plugged into the power source that takes us there. We are in a pretty good spot, but it is not “end game” yet and we need to keep moving forward. We can’t get caught trying to merely maintain status quo. Maintaining where we are is actually trying to maintain the past because the past is what got us to our current status quo. Maintaining the past means living in it.
So our chief focus should be on looking forward at what lies ahead (v.13b-14). Does this mean the past is meaningless? Of course not, it is why we are where we are. We simply do not need to get complacent. Take it forward. Keep your eyes on the prize and keep going until you get it. Keep looking at your destination, keep moving towards it and looking for those you can help.
In life we are either moving or we are losing; going forward or falling back. If we are trying to maintain status quo then we are really slipping backward maybe so slowly that we don’t notice until we have lost a lot of ground. In high school we used to slowly roll our car backwards at stoplights to make the driver next to us think that they were rolling forward. They were easily scared because they were not focusing ahead. We as individuals or organizations are typically going in the direction of where we focus our attention.
So where is your attention? Are you living in the past, still dreaming of the good ol’ days? Are trying to maintain where you are and what you have? Or are you looking to the future with a healthy respect for the lessons learned in the past and staying plugged into the power source that will get you there? Are you looking back; looking down; or looking forward? Keep going and going. Keep your eyes on the prize. When life is spinning out of control or when it is at its best, watch the Lamb. The world hates the cross because to them it means death and humiliation. We love it because to us it means hope and rescue. It means hope because the Lamb was on it; and because He was on it we never have to be! The rest of the world does not have that hope, or prize, to focus on. Their prize is the temporary, they can’t see the cross like we do. But, if those of us who claim to see it would start living like we see it, then maybe just maybe they will be able to see it too.