Press On

Re:Verse passage – Philippians 3:12-16 (day two)

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. vs. 13-14

Today is an important day. Many have looked to this day for quite some time for release from, or recognition of the current political climate. We have heard words like, unprecedented, critical, crossroads when describing the place this election plays in our national psyche. The end of this day will bring little in terms of reconciliation of the political narrative that we have digested over the last several months and years.

This morning I read an essay by C.S.Lewis written in 1940 titled “The Danger of National Repentance.” One of his assertions is that when some people call for repentance, they are calling for others to course correct, or to align with a differing ideology that is currently trending. Too often, a nations citizens are reaping the consequences of decisions made before they were born, or before they were a part of the conversation. Rarely, if ever, when we call for national repentance have we effectively taken inventory of the part that each of us play in the rhetoric of divisiveness; in our homes, families, work places, and churches. What we see nationally is, too often, a reflection of our own hearts towards our neighbors.

For this, we must repent. We must take the words of Paul as a harbinger of hope. We must forget what is behind, in this case the anger and hurt, and we must press on towards the upward call of God. This morning, with all the possibilities that lie before you, pray that you will move and react as the Holy Spirit calls you. Pray for each other, for your political enemy, for the candidates, and their advisors, and for all who would seek public office. Pray that they would seek God’s will and guidance.

I leave you with the closing words of Lincoln’s first inaugural address.

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect, and defend it.”

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Author: Aaron Hufty

Aaron Hufty is the Associate Pastor for Worship and Music at FBCSA. View all posts by Aaron Hufty