One Thing I Do

Philippians 3: 12-14

There was a man who loved horses. Once he had the opportunity to select a colt from a herd of two-year-olds. He chose a somewhat ordinary looking colt named Bluegrass. Many were surprised why this man chose this young horse.

"He will never run in the Kentucky Derby," said many.

But they were wrong. Bluegrass not only ran in the Kentucky Derby, but won!

They asked: “Why did you choose this one?”

He replied that it was because the colt had "the look of eagles in his eye."

The look of eagles . . . I wonder if Paul had “the look of eagles” in his eyes…

“The look of eagles” is that zeal one had to have to enter in the race and win it.

One thing we know that Paul did like races and much of his preaching was done in a sport coliseum.

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize…” Phil. 3:14

In Hebrews 12 we read “… let us throw off everything that hinders…. let us run with perseverance …” Paul used race, sport vocabulary.

Paul is not just using the sport terminology, he is not just a spectator of sport events, but rather he is a participant in the race.

How do we run the race? What was Paul’s strategy to be in the race and win it?

The secret formula is in verse 13. "Brothers, 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."

1. “ONE THING I DO” Not many things. One thing I do.

Look at your life. Of course, we will do many things because we have many responsibilities. I wonder if the American lifestyle is putting us in a position to OVERDO things.

Henry Ford once said: “A weakness of all human beings is trying to do too many things at once. That scatters effort and destroys direction...”

The Quakers have a saying "you can not be crucified on every cross."

Once they asked a famous violinist the secret of his playing. He said of course, practice. But he also said he used another technique called: “Planned neglect.” “After breakfast, I usually did many things like making the bed, laundry, or whatever seemed necessary, then I practiced but soon got tired. I reversed the order. First, I practiced then did the necessary things. (planned neglect).

We all have many things to accomplish during the day. We need to decide what the most important thing is. And how do we decide that?

Let us learn from Paul. He had vision. In order to accomplish his vision he had set smaller goals.

Remember what Henry Ford said: "…trying to do too many things at once. That scatters effort and destroys direction..."

How do you decide your priorities if you do not have direction from God?

The Hebrew definition of the word sin is to miss the target. To sin is to stray from God’s goal for our lives. The individual could even be in the church and in worship but without a goal and direction, doing many things and wasting energy.

Focus, focus, on one thing at a time, with a Godly direction.

2. “Forgetting what is behind”.

Harold Kushner, the author of the famous book When bad things happen to good people, tells about two aged mothers who had natural death. He visited the families. The first one said, “If I had sent only my mother to Florida and gotten her out of his cold and snow, she would be alive today. It is my fault.”

At the second home, the son said: “If I only hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride was more than she could take. It’s my fault that she died.”

The psychologists call this “the regret window.” I wish, If. If this or that….

Mrs. Yeranouhi in Armenian, Yerani means I wish. There are people who live in the past. We can learn from the past. We read the Bible and learn from past experiences. We read history. We learn from the past. But Paul is saying “I forget what is behind.”

We all have some sad stories of the past. Learn to give them over to the Lord. Sleeping over regrets will not help you. It will make you heavier.

I read about a woman called Betty Nesmith. She was a secretary in a bank in Dallas. There were no computers. She use to type on electric typewriters. She wanted to correct her typing mistakes. She realized from her art classes that the artists were painting their errors white. She tried the same thing and called it “MistakeOut”. All the secretaries in the bank started using the same liquid. She tried to sell her idea to major companies, like IBM and others. They did not buy it. She used her kitchen to make this material. Finally, Gillette bought her little enterprise for $47.5 million and called it Tipp-ex.

We do not need to go to Gillette or IBM to help us to erase our mistakes. Paul’s suggestion is to go to Jesus. He did go to him. Do you remember his conversion on the way to Damascus? Remember his life before his conversion. He decides to FORGET about them.

Moreover, Paul did not want to look back and boast on his accomplishments. It is good to have good accomplishments for the Lord. It could be a trap to look back and see wonderful things, and those things will blind you or will make you proud. Do not look back, look forward.

3. “Straining towards what is ahead”

What is ahead?

More possibilities to be a witness for Christ. There is prize waiting for Paul: To be with Christ in heaven. This does not mean that he is doing nothing and waiting for his end to be with Christ. No, on the contrary, he uses all his time and energy towards the main vision: to win more souls for Christ. Even as he was writing this letter, he was chained to a Roman guard and I am sure he witnessed to this man.

Some business people are using word feedforward instead of feedback.

Feedback reflects on past issues and tries to correct them. How about looking at it in a different way? How about anticipating what will happen? Paul lived in anticipation. He looked forward. He lived on feedfoward. He was not bound by his past life, but looked in anticipation towards the victorious future.

*I want to share with you a tough experience from my ministry in Ainjar.

I was school principal. We had wonderful Kindergarten. One afternoon one of the mothers took her son to a shop. His three-year-old son suddenly ran out of the shop and there was a car moving by. The driver did not see the little boy and hit him. The boy immediately died.

It was a difficult situation. The village life is different from the city. That night I was the parents. The mother said something to me I can not forget. She said: “Please go and find the young man who hit my son. Please bring him to our home so we can mourn together.” She was seeking healing so that she could look towards the victorious future.

What did Paul said: “Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead.”

Let’s summarize.

PAUL, PAUL, What a man!

Paul puts all his past credentials aside in order to gain Christ.

He enrolls in the race.

He obeys God’s purpose for his life by finding what is the most important thing for him to do in life.

He forgets the past.

He focuses on the victorious future.

Where do you stand today? How important are your Lexus and Rolex for you? What is the most important thing? Are you looking forward? Do you have a purpose to live for?

We do have a victorious future, just stay in the right kind of race.