By Pastor Bob DeKlavon
Let me start with the following story.
I first read it years ago and it has had a great influence on my thinking.
In 1952, Florence Chadwick attempted to swim the 26 miles between Catalina Island and the California coastline. As she began, she was flanked by small boats that watched for sharks and were prepared to help her if she got hurt or grew tired. After about 15 hours a thick fog set in. Florence began to doubt her ability, and she told her mother, who was in one of the boats, that she did not think she could make it. She swam for another hour before asking to be pulled out, unable to see the coastline due to the fog. As she sat in the boat, she found out she had stopped swimming just one mile away from her destination. Two months later, she tried again. The same thick fog set in, but she succeeded in reaching Catalina. She said that she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind while she swam.
Can you imagine being so close to the end of a long journey but giving up?
I think of that story whenever I am inclined to stop doing what I know I am supposed to do.
There ARE times when things get a bit ‘foggy’ and when we just do not think we can go any further.
Yet—this is where the Holy Spirit can lift the Christian way beyond what they think they can do.
One of the ‘hardest’ sermons to do is the Sunday after Christmas.
Think about it—for weeks before, the emphasis is normally on the birth of Christ.
When we start the new year, the usual pattern is to begin a new series.
Thus, we come to the “Sunday in between.”
With that in mind—how many sermons have you heard then from Philippians 3?
This is where Paul talks about ‘forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.’
We are told to leave ‘last year behind’ as we anticipate the ‘new year to come.’
It is hard to ‘preach’ that message every year and have it be fresh.
Years ago, we had a minister and his wife visit our church on that Sunday every year.
I asked him about preaching the ‘in between sermon’ and his reply was:
“that is why I am always here visiting on this Sunday—so I don’t have to!”
In the verses in Philippians 3, for today’s thoughts—these are the phrases I want us to note:
v. 12—“I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ.”
v. 13—“reaching forward to what lies ahead.”
v. 14—“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
There is a sense of exertion here—Paul is pressing on like a marathoner in a race.
There is a sense of perseverance here—like someone working through a problem with a project.
There is a sense of direction here—Paul’s goal is laying hold of “that’ for which Jesus laid hold of him.
In times like this—it is easy to just want to take a nap and hope it becomes 2021 soon.
It is easy to think—‘well, there is not much I can do so I will binge watch something on TV.’
‘Don’t give up,’ Paul would exhort.
God WILL use you and strengthen you and help you.
It may get foggy at times—but do not let that stop you.