Verse of the Day for October 24

Paul begins with a confession that might surprise us from an apostle. I count not myself to have apprehended. In plain words, I have not arrived. I am not finished.

Fear usually speaks first with exactly that accusation. You are behind. You are not where you should be. Paul does not argue with it. He agrees, and then he keeps going. His not having arrived is the reason he presses on, not the reason he gives up.

Much of our fear speaks from the past, from what went wrong last time or from who we were before. Paul's answer is forgetting those things which are behind. He does not mean erasing memory. He means refusing to let yesterday steer.

Then there is the gentleness of verse fifteen. If anyone thinks differently, God shall reveal even this unto you. Paul trusts God to keep teaching people who are not there yet. That includes you, and the parts of you still afraid.

Before an exam, a job interview, a hard conversation with your landlord, fear will speak first. Let it speak. Then answer the way Paul did. I have not arrived, but this one thing I do, and lean forward toward what is ahead.

Being unfinished is the normal state of every follower of Christ.

Yesterday can be remembered without being allowed to drive.