Moving Forward

One of the expressions I do not like is "moving forward." "What other direction are we moving in, after all, if not forward?" I asked.

Then I reconsidered the term.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote in 3:4-6 of his heritage, then changed his perspective in 3:7-14: "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I  have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 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 toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus."

As those in Christ, then, we need to do as Paul: forget what lies behind and reach forward, or in today's parlance, "move forward," "toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus."