Is it strange that one of the banes of my existence is a Coke machine? That's right...a big heavy red nightmare. I walk in the church kitchen...it looks at me with a look that says, "Whatcha gonna do about it?" I answer back, "You're day is coming my friend and when it does I'll be there!"
This Coke machine has never worked right, and hasn't worked at all in years. But there it sits...in all of it's contemptuous glory. Why? That's a good question. It serves no purpose, provides no value, takes up space but gives nothing back. So why is it there? Because it's "always been there". It has become a monument erected to the way things have always been...to comfort...to inertia...to a fear of change. After all, if we move that monument what will we put in it's place? Where will we place the cornucopia of items found lying around the fellowship hall that no one claims? Isn't it just easier to act like it's not there.
So what's my point? The point is that monuments are most frequently built for dead people, objects, or causes. Monuments serve the purpose of reminding us of the past. And while that's not necessarily a bad thing, when we focus on them, we fail to live in the present or look toward the future. Mile posts, on the other hand, let us know where we are, and point us onward...onward to bigger dreams and better places. Monuments tie us up, mile posts set us free. Monuments anchor us...mile posts remind us of what we can become.
The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, stated that if there is one thing that he knew he did well it was forgetting what was behind him and straining toward what was ahead. He pressed on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called him. Paul often remembered his past to his followers, but Paul never relived his past. He knew that was a loosing proposition. What about you? Do you tie yourself to monuments, or do you look forward to that next mile post? What has God set in your future? What amazing things are you destined to do for his kingdom?