“…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.”
(Philippians 3:13-14)
Once there was a beggar who lived near the king's palace. One day he saw a proclamation posted outside the palace gate. The king was giving a great dinner. Anyone dressed in royal garments was invited to the party.
The beggar went on his way. He looked at the rags he was wearing and sighed. Surely only kings and their families wore royal robes, he thought. Slowly an idea crept into his mind. The audacity of it made him tremble. Would he dare?
He made his way back to the palace. He approached the guard at the gate. "Please, sire, I would like to speak to the king."
"Wait here," the guard replied. In a few minutes, he was back. "His majesty will see you," he said, and led the beggar in.
"You wish to see me?" asked the king.
"Yes, your majesty. I want so much to attend the banquet, but I have no royal robes to wear. Please, sir, if I may be so bold, may I have one of your old garments so that I, too, may come to the banquet?"
The beggar shook so hard that he could not see the faint smile that was on the king's face. "You have been wise in coming to me," the king said. He called to his son, the young prince. "Take this man to your room and array him in some of your clothes."
The prince did as he was told and soon the beggar was standing before a mirror, clothed in garments that he had never dared hope for.
"You are now eligible to attend the king's banquet tomorrow night," said the prince. "But even more important, you will never need any other clothes. These garments will last forever."
The beggar dropped to his knees. "Oh, thank you," he cried. But as he started to leave, he looked back at his pile of dirty rags on the floor. He hesitated. What if the prince was wrong? What if he would need his old clothes again? Quickly he gathered them up.
The banquet was far greater than he had ever imagined, but he could not enjoy himself as he should. He had made a small bundle of his old rags and it kept falling off his lap. The food was passed quickly and the beggar missed some of the greatest delicacies.
Time proved that the prince was right. The clothes lasted forever. Still the poor beggar grew fonder and fonder of his old rags. As time passed people seemed to forget the royal robes he was wearing. They saw only the little bundle of filthy rags that he clung to wherever he went. They even spoke of him as the old man with the rags. One day as he lay dying, the king visited him.
The beggar saw the sad look on the king's face when he looked at the small bundle of rags by the bed. Suddenly the beggar remembered the prince's words and he realized that his bundle of rags had cost him a lifetime of true royalty. He wept bitterly at his folly. And the king wept with him. (Unknown Author)
Imagine Paul who once was called “Saul” of Tarsus a man who had held the coats of the men who stoned Stephen. The Bible describes Stephen as “…a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” in Acts 6:5, “…full of grace and power” in verse 8, Paul helped & gave his approval of the stoning of this man of God (Acts 22:20). As I said, imagine when Paul looked back into his past while writing this letter to the Philippians, imagine what he saw. He saw a man who had tried to destroy the church, a man who had put to death men & women for being Christians…he saw an evil man, one he was ashamed of I’m sure...he saw himself. But it was a memory that he would have to leave behind to move forward. He would have to leave behind his filthy rags. Paul also saw a man who also at that time was a Jewish religious leader who thought that his works & religious rituals would earn him a way into Heaven. Paul knew filthy rags & he knew that you had to leave them behind to move forward.
We too have to leave behind our filthy rags, whether it is the filthy rags of living a bad life or trying to live a good one to get into Heaven…we have to understand that not only are we not good enough, nor can we ever be to enter heaven, we must also remember that only Christ is & when He saved us, He made us new…no more worrying about the past, but looking & living for the future. Don’t apologize for who you were, if you are in Christ, you are no longer that person. Let go of the past & reach forward to what lies ahead, “…press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Vern
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