Push Forward

Philippians 3

¹² 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. ¹³ 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, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul, the apostle of Christ who has accomplished so many things for Jesus said this, "not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect." (v12) He could have boasted about how many churches he has built and the thousands of lives he saved by preaching the gospel but even with so many achievements, he humbles himself to nothing. So what should you do if you're not perfect, and you still make a lot of mistakes?

What was Paul's secret to keep himself going?

His secret is in verse 13, "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." Paul says that he will forget what is behind him. Not only the bad things that happened to him but even the good things.

We like to forget about the mistakes that we made and only want to remember the victories we have obtained. But Paul says both, good and bad will be forgotten and he will strain toward what is ahead.

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." This last part is really important. We as Christians were called to serve our God, whether in school, in jobs, careers, we were given gifts and talents to worship our Lord. And its important that in our calling, we do our very best. Notice verse 14 did not say "I press on toward the goal to be close to winning the prize, or to try my best to win the prize," but it said, to win the prize, because this isn't just an ordinary calling, its a calling given by God. And its our responsibility to put our heart, body, and soul into what he has given us to do.

What is your calling? Are you pursuing it to win the prize? There were will be tough times and good days but let's take the advice Paul gives us, forget what's behind us and always push forward.