Press on Toward the Goal

by Jim Morris

The most significant times in our lives are not necessarily those when we accumulate great personal wealth, advantage or success. Rather, they are the times when we draw closer to the heart of the Savior of the world. In all honesty, they may be times marked with great personal losses, sufferings and hardships. Ironically, such hard and difficult times can actually become blessings in disguise. Yet, who would desire such things by choice?

Actually, the apostle Paul threw away all of his personal advantages of the past so that he could draw closer to God in the present. He described this paradox to us, saying,

“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” (Philippians 3:7-11).

Paul accepted the unavoidable struggle to walk with Jesus. He tells us,

“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” (3:12-14).

At the church of Christ at Dixon, we do not claim to have already been made perfect either. Rather, we invite you to join us in the journey to “forget what is behind” and to “press on toward the goal.”

May 2004 lead each of us closer to the loving arms of the Savior.