Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,"
Philippians 3:13 (NKJV)

Recently I thought of the phrase, "Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk".  My problem was not spilled milk but there was a fly in my coffee.  I had made myself some coffee and I went out onto the balcony of my apartment with my computer to do some work outside.  But, when I went to take the first drink of coffee a fly had landed in my drink.  So, rather than just sit there with a sense of disappointment and thirst I removed the fly and got something else to drink.  In the same way, when we deal with difficulties in our life, we need to do what is necessary to take care of the situation and just move on.

When we have a problem it makes no sense to sit there and cry about it, that won't change anything; this is where the idea for the saying about the milk came from.  In Philippians 3:13 Paul talked about forgetting what happened in the past and moving forward.  Paul admitted to not having had a perfect past but he didn't allow the problems of the past to cloud his future.  We can see similar things with other people in the Bible who continued to move forward with God's plan in their life despite the problems and disappointments they faced.

Everyone will deal with difficulties in life but it is what we do when we experience the difficulties that matters.  If we just stop and feel badly or if we don't do anything about the problem nothing will get better.  In the letters to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation Jesus talks about the rewards overcomers will receive, but there are no rewards for those who just give up and cry about the problems they have faced.  Hebrews 13:6 tells us that we can boldly say the Lord is our Helper; with God's help we can clean up any mess we encounter in life, move forward, and fulfill the will of God!