Philippians__3

Scripture

 

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:13-14‬ ‭‬‬

 

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

 

Observation-What does it say?

 

Paul is writing the Philippians. He is trying to motivate them not to rest on their past accomplishments, not to be satisfied of just being saved by their faith in Jesus Christ, and to push forward and keep growing into the people God has called them to be. It is a call for all who know Christ to stay focused on the prize that awaits us, and to finish the race strong.

 

Understanding-What does it mean?

 

Keep pushing forward! Keep growing!

 

Did you ever have a goal you wanted to achieve so bad? I know I have. One of them was losing weight and getting back into shape. In order to do that I had to set goals and build a certain discipline in my life in order to achieve that goal. It took hard work, discipline, and dedication in order to accomplish that task. It took me about 3 long months to be able to hit my goal. But what happened once I achieved that goal? I hate to admit it, but I got complacent. I felt I had my younger metabolism back, and I let old habits creep back into my life. Eventually I gained all my weight back (and then some), and now it seems I have to “climb that mountain” again. 😩

 

The reason I share this personal story of mine is so you can learn from my mistake. I know the story I shared is one of physical health, but the same can happen to our spiritual health if we’re not careful. If we begin to be complacent, those bad habits may start creeping back into our lives, allowing the enemy to get a foothold on us and put a strain on our relationship with Jesus. Paul even says a person’s spiritual health is even more important than their physical health.

 

“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” -1 Timothy‬ ‭4:8

 

So don’t just be satisfied with knowing our faith is in Jesus, and that we will soon be spending eternity with Him in Heaven. Although that is a great thing, our goal should be to keep pushing forward, to know Him more, and to grow in our faith each and every day. If the whole endgame was to just be saved through our faith in Jesus, don’t you think God would have just snatched us up and brought us to Heaven the moment we accepted Jesus into our lives? Instead, we still have a mission to do. To multiply Christ Followers everywhere (Matthew 28:19-20), to disciple others to grow in their walk with Jesus, and for making sure we too are growing with our walk with Him until the day He calls us home. 😊

 

Life Application

 

Be determined to let nothing get in the way of achieving your goal.

 

Although we haven’t been meeting together physically at church, or even meeting in our GROW Groups, that shouldn’t deter us from pushing forward and achieving God’s mission for us. The church is about the people, and not the building. So we need to ask ourselves, “even with this whole social distancing thing, am I pushing forward achieving God’s mission?” How can I make this happen today? How can I stay connected to God’s people, disciple someone, be discipled by someone, and share the Gospel to someone who is need? It may be challenging, but I know if you want something bad enough, you can make it happen. So now is not the time to be complacent! Even with these obstacles of social distancing, God has given us the technology to still go out there and reach His people and the lost. It’s up to us if we’re willing to take that step forward and to keep growing.

 

-Moses Gaddi