As the year 2014 draws to a close, a number of us are going back to the
resolutions we made at the beginning of the year and trying to see if at all we
have met our goals and targets. I know there are people who gave up on their
resolutions long time ago because they kept breaking them. I have come to
realize that the end of the year can be quite frustrating for most people as it
tends to be a reminder of their failures and hence leaves them powerless to
make any resolutions or set any targets for the New Year. Paul’s exhortation to
the Philippians is a timely reminder to us when he charges them to “press on”
This encouragement is found in the third chapter of the letter to the
Philippian believers. Paul says to them:
“Not that I have already obtained it or already become
perfect but I press on in order that I may hold of that for which also I was
laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid
hold of it yet but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching
forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for the prize of the
upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many as are perfect
have this attitude, and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will
reveal that also to you. However, let us keep living by that same standard to
which we have attained.”
In this passage Paul gives us three guidelines to help us to press on
toward the goal that is set before us. In the preceding verses Paul says he does
not boast in his achievements but actually counts them as loss because he has
gained something incomparably better- Christ Jesus, and least people think he
has arrived the apostle quickly moves to dispel that notion and that’s where we
all need to start from if we are to press on.
We need to have an honest view of our spirituality, a certain level of
discontentment of where you are spiritually. The goal of our race is to attain
perfection, to become like Jesus, so until one reaches that standard we are not
supposed to be content with our level of growth. It is this perspective that
keeps us going. An athlete who thinks he has done it all and has arrived soon
stops improving. Too many Christians are content with their spirituality that
they stopped growing eons ago. Part of the reason we get into such thinking is
because we often compare ourselves with others. Other Christians are not our
standard, the Lord Jesus is!
Secondly Paul says he forgets what lies behind. A general rule of racing
is that he you do not look behind as that slows you down and can actually cause
you to trip and fall. Now if there is a person who could easily let the past
affect him it’s Paul. Before salvation he was a persecutor of the Church,
responsible for the killing of Stephen and after conversion he planted more
churches than anyone else in the New Testament. Paul could have let his failures
or successes get to him and render him useless in the present but he instead
says, I forget all that is behind and I press on! John Piper puts it perfectly
when he says:
“Memories of successes can make you smug and
self-satisfied. Memories of failure can make you hopeless and paralyzed in your
pursuit of God. Never look back like that. Give humble thanks for successes;
make humble confessions for failure; then turn to the future and go hard after
God.”[1]
Paul says he is not content with his growth, he knows he has not reached
the standard he has been called to and he also forgets what lies behind, he
does not let his failures and successes affect his growth. Therefore he presses
on toward his goal. He has a single passion and goal in life that is to be like
Jesus. He will not let anything distract him and he will apply all his time,
energy and resources to get to that finish line. He is as focused as an athlete
who is willing to endure pain and sacrifice everything in order to finish the
race. He is willing to discipline himself for that cause. Paul says press on!
Dear friends as the year draws to a close and you take stock of your
failures and successes my encouragement to you is simple: forgetting what lies
behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many
as are perfect have this attitude, and if in anything you have a different
attitude, God will reveal that also to you. However, let us keep living by that
same standard to which we have attained.
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