Classic Sermon Outlines (continued)
yThe Race and the Goal your business to give the same attention, the same concentration, the same unwavering energy to it which you do to your trade.
III. PURSUE THIS END WITH A WISE FORGETFULNESS.
A. The Meaning of "Forgetting the Things That Are Behind."
1. The meaning stated negatively. He does not mean that we are to cultivate obliviousness as to let God's mercies to us "lie, forgotten in unthankfulness, or without praises to die." Nor does he mean to tell us that we are to deny ourselves the solace of remembering the mercies which may, perhaps, have gone from us.
2. The meaning stated positively. He means that we should so forget as, by the oblivion, to strengthen our concentration.
B. The Application of "Forgetting the Things That Are Behind."
1. Remember and forget past failures and faults. Let us remember them in order that the remembrance may cultivate in us a wise chastening of our self-confidence. Let us forget our failures insofar as these might paralyze our hopes or make us fancy that future success is impossible where past failures frown.
2. Remember and forget past successes and achievements. Remember them for thankfulness, for hope, for counsel and instruction, but forget them when they tend to make us fancy that little more remains to be done; and forget them when they tend to make us think that such and such things are our line and of other virtues and graces and achievements of culture and of character, that these are not our line and not to be won by us.
IV. PURSUE THE AIM WITH A WISE, EAGER REACHING FORWARD.
A. The Expressiveness of "Reaching Forth."
1. The English translation only partially expresses the meaning. The apostle employs a graphic word here, which is only partially expressed by that "reaching forth."