Pressing On

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.  All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.  Only let us live up to what we have already attained (Philippians 3:13-16).

Salvation is not through a “righteousness of our own.”  But if that thought leads to sloth or laziness, we show we have missed the grace of God.   There is so much more to know.  There is so much more growing to do.  The heart that understands Christ is “compelled by the love of Christ.” The disciple who realizes that Jesus has taken hold of him, wants to take hold of everything that Jesus has planned for his life.  Such a one does not sit and wait for life to come to him; he “presses on.”  This word (dioko) was used in both hunting and foot racing.  It could describe pursuing, chasing, even overtaking and capturing. Inspired by Christ, the true disciple wants to “go for it”¾to discover all God has in the storehouses of his love.

But surely Paul is a rare exception and surely God would not expect such an attitude in us all.  Right? Wrong!  All of us who are mature, Paul says, should think in the same way.  It is the logical extension of the decision we made at some point in the past to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Jesus.  Anytime we think:  “Surely I’ve done enough;”  “Surely, it is time for someone else to ‘go for it’ for a while;” “Surely, God believes in ‘retirement;’” we are putting down the cross and taking up the cause of “self.”  With such an attitude, one has to wonder why we did “all the good things” that we now want to rest on.  Was it so they would be credited to us or was it because we were in love with someone who had done for us what we never could have deserved?