Paul in Philippians 3:7-14 sums up everything we have been trying to accomplish over the past 9 articles.
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Keep your eyes on God’s prize.No matter what is happening in your life. Keep your eyes up and keep moving forward. You didn’t become a child of God so everything could be easy. You became a child of God so you could serve Him and be with Him in heaven forever.
Four things from this passage to help us keep our eyes on the prize:
1. Envision the Goal
I like to run and it is true that when runners are running a very long distance race it can be challenging to stay focused and to keep progressing towards the finish line with the same amount of energy and speed. It’s easy to lose focus, slow down, think negative thoughts, and sometimes runners will even quit.
But what is also true is when a runner is running that long race and the finish line comes into view they start pushing harder and running faster. The point is when we can see the end goal we are encouraged to work harder.
When you can envision the goal of heaven you can press on toward that. You can serve God no matter how hard It gets. You can continue to put one foot in front of the other no matter what.
2. Don’t Be Distracted By Other Goals
Paul said he counted the other things gained to him as rubbish. He put them aside.
Anything that was going to get in the way of Paul getting to heaven he dropped it. Of course, we are going to have other goals in our life. School, perhaps. Family. Work. Financial.
The point is that all the other goals must be subject to this main goal. I want to go to heaven. That matters more than anything else.
This should remind you of our first lesson: Seek First the Kingdom of God. Nothing else can come before this pursuit.
3. You Haven’t Reached the Goal Yet
Until you have actually reached heaven don’t act like you have reached the goal. Here is the Apostle Paul, arguably the greatest disciple ever and he said he hasn’t obtained it yet. He was still pressing on to that goal.
How much more should you and I have that mindset?
Even when you have been a Christian 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years plus, we can never allow ourselves to come to a mentality of having reached perfection and becoming complacent.
Some people begin to back off from serving the Lord. Cut back on their prayer and reading the Bible. And when they read the Bible they do so more like a reference book than a life changing book. They’ll back off on attending assemblies with other Christians, worshiping God and encouraging others.
No matter how long you have been a Christian, no matter how much knowledge you have obtained, no matter how much sin you have overcome, no matter how strong your faith, you and I need to be just like Paul pressing on to the goal of heaven because we haven’t reached it yet.
4. Forget the Past
Paul said, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
We are not saying you totally forget about the past and not learn from it.
We are saying let the guilt go from your past. Jesus Christ died because we committed sin. When you confessed those sins and were baptized into Christ those sins were forgiven. They are gone. So don’t let that bog you down and discourage you from serving God right now.
On the other hand, we have good days and victories in Christ. We do awesome things for God. And then we may have a tendency to rest on these good things, stop working and striving, and become complacent. It’s like the guy that scored the winning touchdown in his high school championship football game and for the rest of his life he lives based on that glory.
That glory is past. That victory is done. We must serve God today! We must press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus today!
Keep your eyes on the prize.
Keep the faith today!