Trevor sprang into motion at the signal and was quickly in the lead on the 100 meter dash. Passing the crowd he heard a familiar voice cheering him on – was that Sharlene, the girl that dumped him two months ago? As he glanced back to see if it was Sharlene, Nathan flew past him and won the race.

Paul wrote about life as if it were a race. Do we have a life goal, or are we continually looking back or following every whim that comes along?

Read Philippians 3:13-14 “…No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

When Paul says he has not achieved it he is referring to reaching perfection. The race wasn’t yet over, he was still growing in his relationship with Jesus.

What distractions and interruptions do we face in our lives today? Do we have life goals that keep getting shelved as we spend two more hours on Facebook or sending endless text messages to our friends?

I’m guilty. I tried to finish this post yesterday, but my mind wasn’t in it. I kept checking the stats to see how many people had looked at the post I had put up the day before on this (new) blog… and then there was Facebook… It was easier to write the first few blog posts because there were no stats to look at – but there I was trying to write about why we shouldn’t be looking back, yet that was exactly what kept me from finishing this post yesterday.

Dear Jesus, give us the desire and willpower to keep looking to you for guidance in choosing our life goals and for maintaining our focus on our relationship with you. Help us to resist looking back or from side to side at all the distractions that are available to us in today’s world.