Pressing On in the Faith

Philippians 3: 7 – 17 (NIV): But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

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. 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.

Compared to knowing Christ, Paul says, everything else is garbage. Once we find the love and power and strength and comfort of God, how can anything else compare? Paul was born wealthy. We know that because of his education. But he gave it all up to follow Jesus. He was writing this letter, in fact, from a prison cell where he had been sent for preaching the Gospel.

Far from feeling sorry for himself, though, he is writing about pressing forward in his faith. About becoming more and more like Christ. About his desire to know him more and more. About the joy he experienced because he was found in Christ.

He realized that following the law would never make him righteousness – only faith in Christ can do that. It was Abraham's faith that made him righteous, Paul says in Romans 4. After all, Abraham lived before the law was written.

Paul considered it a privilege to suffer for Christ. He wanted to be like Christ and he knew suffering was part of the deal. That was okay with him because he also knew living forever in heaven was part of the bargain too.

Paul wanted to forget his mistakes from the past and press forward in his faith. Like a runner in a marathon, he knew it was important not to look back, but to strain ahead. He knew a runner must keep his eye on the goal and train hard to reach it. He knew he must keep his mind on the prize. Let us press forward in our faith. Let us forget past mistakes and run the race. God is not through with us yet and his goal for us is to be like Christ now and forever.