Most humans live on a spectrum of extremes. Too hot or too cold. Too fast or too slow. Too much or too little. Too long or too quick. Too tall or too short.
While those may be frivolous examples, we sometimes vacillate between much more significant extremes. Take time for instance. Too many people live in their past. They can’t shake the good or bad things that they have done or that have happened to them. They are imprisoned by the years that have already gone by. This can be seen in positive or negative aspects. Some people never leave their "glory days." They are stuck on great experiences of the past—recalling those days and speaking of those days as if they currently live in those days.
But some people are stuck in the past for different reasons. They might have made a bad decision and the consequences of that decision still haunts them. Or, maybe something bad happened to them and they can't shake it. It weighs them down like a ball and chain.
The past is one extreme. However, on the opposite side of the spectrum, lies the other extreme—the future. Too many people perpetually plan for the future. However, they never get around to taking action because all they do is plan. I'm sure you know people like this. They always talk about what "they are going to do." But year after year passes by, and they still haven't done anything.
Paul speaks about this in Philippians 3:12-14 when he says, "Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus."
Paul didn't mean that he refused to remember things that happened to him in the past, which included past failures as well as past successes. Earlier in the letter, he spoke about events from his past. So what did he mean? Well, he's simply saying that he did not rest in his past. The past can be a reference point, but it's not a place to live in.
Instead, Paul talks about a future goal that he's after. But pay attention to what he says—"I pursue." Do you notice how that's a present tense verb? In other words, Paul isn't just dreaming about the future, he's doing something right now, in his present, that propels him toward that future. He's living in his right now.
Don't live on the extreme sides of the spectrum. When you get stuck in one of these extremes, you lose out on your "right now" moments. Instead, let’s learn from our past, plan for our future, and make moves in our present. After all, time is moving. The question is, are you?
