One of the hardest places to begin living differently is at your own kitchen table. You said you’d be home for supper, and you made it. Someone you love still glances at the clock and says, “I wondered if you’d show up.”
You may want to defend yourself. You kept your word today. You may also remember the evenings when someone set a place for you and finally put the plate away. Both things are true. What do you do with that history while you’re sitting there together?
In Philippians 3, Paul describes a life that has a direction. He knows where he has been. He also knows who has called him and where he wants to go. By the time he writes about reaching forward in verses 13 and 14, he has already told the church enough of his history to make one thing clear. Forgetting what is behind him has very little to do with losing his memory.
What Paul carried
Some of the things Paul remembered were things he had once been proud of. He had a respected religious background. He knew the law and took it seriously. He also remembered persecuting the church. There were people whose experience of Paul gave them good reason to fear him.
Meeting Jesus changed the value Paul placed on all of it. His accomplishments could never give him the righteousness he needed. His wrongdoing was real, and he could speak plainly about it. What mattered most to him now was knowing Christ. Even after years of serving the Lord, Paul spoke as a man who still had growing to do.
That gives us a way to examine our own lives. Maybe the memory you keep returning to is the worst thing you ever did. Maybe it’s a season when you were doing well, and you’ve spent years wishing you could get back to the person you were then. Paul gives us a different question to ask. What would it mean to follow Jesus faithfully from where I am today?
An honest account of yesterday
At MRC House, we believe your past can inform your testimony. You can tell the truth about the harm you’ve done, the help you’ve received, and the mercy God has shown you. You can also learn from what happened. If you know that disappointment has often led you to isolate yourself, that knowledge can help you recognize the evening when you need to pick up the phone.
Sometimes remembering brings a responsibility into focus. There may be money you owe or a promise you left unkept. There may be someone who needs room to speak about what your actions cost them. Repentance can be as practical as listening to the end of that conversation and following through on what you agreed to do.
Think again about that supper table. You might say, “I understand why you wondered. You’ve waited on me before.” Then listen. You have kept one promise today. Let the person across from you have whatever time they need to discover that they can count on you.
What draws us forward
When Paul presses toward the mark, he has something more particular in mind than a better version of his old life. His hope is bound up with the call of God in Christ Jesus. He wants to know the Lord, share in His life, and be found faithful to Him. That hope gives ordinary decisions their weight.
We believe Jesus Christ gives us a new beginning through repentance, baptism in His name, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As we grow, the Spirit helps us put into practice what Jesus teaches. We learn to receive correction. We worship alongside people who come to know us well enough to ask how we’re doing and wait for an honest answer. In time, we begin to notice when someone else at the table could use that same patience.
Is there a conversation you’ve been putting off? A commitment you can keep today? Start there. Ask God for the grace to do it, and ask someone you trust to walk alongside you. You can take that step even while parts of your life are still being put back together.
That’s what we mean at MRC House when we say future drawn. Jesus Christ has called you to walk with Him. Today, even at your own kitchen table, you can answer.