Last year, my oldest son starting taking karate at a local dojo. A few months in, we attended his first tournament. Being so young, there wasn’t much to it for him…a simple obstacle course. But, at the end of the course, everyone who participate received a trophy. You would have thought it was Christmas. He loved that trophy. In fact, it still sits on a shelf in our living room to serve as a reminder of that first tournament.
Trophies of past victories are a good can be good…as long as they do not become the thing we focus on. I think of Peter, James and John when they were on the mountain with Jesus at the moment of His transfiguration. They witnessed the very glory of God…Jesus in all of His heavenly splendor. Their immediate response? They wanted to build a monument. I’m sure they had the best of intentions. But, the problem was they did not yet realize that while they had experienced the glory, they had not yet arrived at the victory.
Too often we let what God has done in our past keep us from what God wants to do in our future. We hold on to past victories and never experience ultimate victory. We cannot live in the past…bad OR good. Let past victories remind you of God’s faithfulness in the dark times…but don’t get so focused on them that you miss out on even greater glory.
