I was recently inspired by the movie, "Meet the Robinsons." I don't want to give away the plot that literally brought a tear or two at the end, but there's a motto throughout the show, "Keep Moving Forward."
There's a time in the movie when our under-dog genius makes another bad invention, and the zany cast of characters begins applauding and cheering for him, making comments like, "Good failure!" "Way to go!" and "If you have a success the first time, you learn nothing, but if you fail, you learn a lot... Keep moving forward!"
It was inspired by the Walt Disney Quote:
“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
Disney wasn't the first to come up with this saying. It started around 2000 years ago when Paul wrote in a letter to the Philippians,
3:10-14 "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
We are to forget what is behind us and keep moving forward toward the goal to win the prize that God has called for us, looking to Heaven.
Do we as Christians still sin and mess up? Every day. Angela Thomas wrote in her book "A Beautiful Offering" that it's like turning in a paper at the end of every day. Some days we hand in an A-. Other days it's a D. If we're connecting with God, he takes the paper, sets it down, and says, "Get a good night sleep. We'll go at it again tomorrow." His mercies are new every morning!
Another passage I love about this is Pslam 37:23-24:
The steps of a man are established by the LORD,
And He delights in his way.
When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.
And He delights in his way.
When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.
Did you notice the "when he falls?" We are going to mess up and fall, but we shouldn't stand still for fear of falling. We should walk confidently in the path God has for us because he's the one holding onto us. Hebrews calls Jesus the anchor of our soul. We have not been given a Spirit of fear, but of Power.
The enemy wants us to live in the past in fear and regret, but God has an amazing future set out in front of us. So rent the movie, pick up your Bible, and Keep Moving Forward!
