Has it changed? Is it different? It has the chance to be a new start. But will it?
That is the challenge facing all of us as we consider the individual impact of the last ten weeks. There seems to be a lot of images of fast-food circulating on social media, as people prepare themselves to return to their favourite eateries. My children have said they have never eaten as well as they have during lock-down. Is it the heightened awareness that eating well boosts the immune system, or the time that has been given to preparing more nutritious dishes? Whatever it has been, I hope that the best of lock-down remains in your future routines.
I love the letter of Paul to the Philippians. In Acts 16, we read how Paul began to share the message of Jesus with a group who feared God, but had no knowledge that Jesus was the Messiah (the saviour that the Jews had waited for). Paul shared with them as they worked and they believed. Then Paul cast a demon out of a girl and was sent to prison with his friend Silas, where he chose to praise through the night. Even during lock-down, Paul still found something to praise God for.
So, when Paul talks about forgetting what is behind, the readers of this letter would know the struggles he had faced and the miracles that God had done in his life. But Paul did not dwell on what God had done, he focused on what is to come – the prize and the goal.
Maybe today is your chance to think about the past and all God has done for you and in you. I encourage you to share your story with others to strengthen their faith. And as you look ahead, focus on the goodness and greatness of God, who works through all our situations for his glory and our good.
