Bill Gates is a pretty successful individual. He’s the founder of Microsoft, a computer giant you might have heard of. He usually comes first or second on the annual list of the world’s richest people. He has set up a foundation which is giving billions of dollars to fight poverty around the world. It’s hard to think that a man like that might have regrets, but apparently he does.
Gates was recently interviewed and said he wishes you didn’t have to press control-alt-delete to log on to your computer or go to the task manager. The three buttons all-at-once command was created early on when developing Windows and is still a feature today. It would have been better, concedes Gates, to have one button for that function. All Mac users would agree.
I’m sure there are more personal things that Bill Gates regrets about his life. We all have them: relationships that failed, projects and dreams that didn’t materialize, moments when we didn’t live up to our standards of integrity and compassion… Not all of these things are necessarily sinful, but we do see them as failure. It’s hard not to get stuck re-living those moments over and over.
In a familiar passage from Philippians, Paul talks about maturing in the Christian faith. He says that he hasn’t arrived, 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.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
Paul’s experience provides helpful guidance. With God’s help, we can lay down our past failures and push forward towards the goal: a fuller life in Christ.
