Don't get stuck.

Philippians 3

"10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you."

In these verse we see the source of Paul's spiritual power. He compared himself to a runner running to win the prize. What he describes is focus. His focus was on knowing Christ. That simple single focus was the source of his power. This isn't just for Paul but for all of us. Mature Christians think this way.

But why do so few of us experience this power? We get stuck. There are a couple of things that get us stuck. One is pride. We think we have arrived. When we think that we make no further progress. Paul admitted he had not arrived.

Another way we get stuck is that we focus on the past. Paul forgot what was behind. That didn't mean he did not learn lessons from the past or had to repent of the past. We know this because he describes the lessons he learned from his past life as a Pharisee earlier in the chapter. But the past wasn't his focus. Paul was interested in where he was going, not where he had been. How often do we get stuck on the past sins, hurts, or successes. We humans are creatures of habit. We keep repeating the same old patterns of the past over and over again. Albert Eistein once said that the definite of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect the same results. By focusing on Christ and all he has for us we can break out of these negative patterns of the past and move forward.