May 8 - Philippians 3:12-14
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 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.”
Yesterday we read that all Paul wanted was to know Christ … with every breath, to become like him. Without hesitation, Paul tells us that he’s certainly not there yet.
Christ had taken hold of Paul on that Damascus road. He has taken hold of each of us at some point in our lives. That point when we recognize that Christ will actively work in our lives if we allow Him is the moment that we begin to take hold of His purpose for us.
Paul uses a lot of athletic imagery in his letters and here we see him pressing towards a goal. He hasn’t achieved it yet, he still is reaching for it. Can you see him running with his entire body stretching towards the tape at the end of the race?
The other day, I was driving through Webster City up here and there were a couple of young men running on the sidewalks … one was enjoying his run, the other kept turning around to see what was coming up behind him. He couldn’t focus on the run because he kept turning his head to watch the traffic that would soon pass him. I don’t know what he was looking for, but I could recognize an uninvolved runner and one that wouldn’t be able to win … he kept falling further and further behind his buddy.
Paul knows that looking back will do him no good. The mistakes, the pains, the things that people have said about him, the controversies, the persecution; all of those things that we so easily focus on and allow to define our future are in the past. That which is important lies before us.
The goal – the prize at the end of the race is not our past. Eternity with Christ Jesus is not dependent on the things that we have in our past. Even though it seems nearly impossible for us to forget them and allow them to fade into obsolescence, Paul calls us to strain towards the goal, forgetting what is past … don’t look back, don’t lose focus. Jesus stands before us.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 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.”
Yesterday we read that all Paul wanted was to know Christ … with every breath, to become like him. Without hesitation, Paul tells us that he’s certainly not there yet.
Christ had taken hold of Paul on that Damascus road. He has taken hold of each of us at some point in our lives. That point when we recognize that Christ will actively work in our lives if we allow Him is the moment that we begin to take hold of His purpose for us.
Paul uses a lot of athletic imagery in his letters and here we see him pressing towards a goal. He hasn’t achieved it yet, he still is reaching for it. Can you see him running with his entire body stretching towards the tape at the end of the race?
The other day, I was driving through Webster City up here and there were a couple of young men running on the sidewalks … one was enjoying his run, the other kept turning around to see what was coming up behind him. He couldn’t focus on the run because he kept turning his head to watch the traffic that would soon pass him. I don’t know what he was looking for, but I could recognize an uninvolved runner and one that wouldn’t be able to win … he kept falling further and further behind his buddy.
Paul knows that looking back will do him no good. The mistakes, the pains, the things that people have said about him, the controversies, the persecution; all of those things that we so easily focus on and allow to define our future are in the past. That which is important lies before us.
The goal – the prize at the end of the race is not our past. Eternity with Christ Jesus is not dependent on the things that we have in our past. Even though it seems nearly impossible for us to forget them and allow them to fade into obsolescence, Paul calls us to strain towards the goal, forgetting what is past … don’t look back, don’t lose focus. Jesus stands before us.
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