"I press on..."

We recently arrived at 3:12-16 in our study of Philippians, an incredibly important piece of scripture for me.

And for all of us.

At least for those of us who are continuing on in our journey to truly know Christ--in His power and in His suffering. Paul says some things here that are non-negotiable to me as I examine my own progress.

1. I have not arrived, nor will I, at my final destination until God calls me home. To assume any stance or posture of satisfaction and/or complacency is to battle the potentially lethal enemy of spiritual arrogance.

2. I have not already "been made perfect". Not that this should be a newsflash to anyone who knows me. I am not yet wholly mature, sanctified, completed, done. This divine work, thankfully, is ongoing.

3. I need a singular purpose--"this one thing I do"--to keep myself moving forward. The "goal" of spiritual maturity and the ultimate "prize" of eternal life are supreme motivators in the race I am running.

4. I cannot move forward if I am buckled over by past failures or basking in past accomplishments. Those have to be forgotten and cast aside. God has forgiven and forgotten the sins of my past. And my accomplishments are of no value in assessing the status of my relationship today with Him.

5. I reach ahead into the future with every disciplined fiber of my being committed to the task of finishing the race well, enabled and sustained by God's strength.

The wonderful picture of what God has done keeps me going. He has "taken hold" of me. He has "called me heavenward in Christ". I am daily grateful for God's pursuit of me and His plan and preparations for me to spend eternity with him. That makes the race worth finishing!

A friend of mine decided today to discontinue any kind of treatment for the cancer recently diagnosed, choosing instead some quality final days. Another friend, much older, has stopped eating and declared, "I am ready to go home". Both of these have run the race well and are ready for the "prize" awaiting them.

As for me, "I press on...". I am sometimes discouraged by my failures, and wonder why God even puts up with me. At other times I feel so overwhelmed by what God has called me to do, that I feel like stepping aisde and handing the baton to someone else.

But more often than not, I am buoyed by the picture of an athlete "straining" towards the finish line. singularly focused on the "prize", and I say to myself ,"I press on!"