Philippians 3: 1-14
Thursday, 31 December 2020
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 3:14
As we come to the close of the eventful year 2020, many of us have mixed feelings of how the year has been. We may be looking into ourselves as how we ran our Christian race in the midst of the passing distressing year. But when we look back we have many things to thank the Lord Almighty for—His saving grace; His wonderful care and protection over our lives even in the tumult around us. With a heart of gratitude, let us gather at His feet and say, "Thank You Lord Jesus!"
Philippians was a letter written by Paul from prison. Not even a casual reading of this letter can negate the pulsating throb of bubbling joy all through this letter. Paul's view of Christian life is seen in a nutshell in this letter and he viewed it as continual race to reach the ultimate shore of eternity. As he was passing through his tough years in life and ministry, he was counting only on one thing— to pursue his life goal in the midst of it all. The difficulties he had all through his life did not hinder his progress. Neither did he want to retire from this race, as some do when the going gets tough. But Paul was focused to run his race so as to reach his goal. This kind of persistence is required all throughout our Christian journey, without which it becomes difficult to progress.
Let us examine what was Apostle Paul's strategy for his Christian race:
Forget the past (Phil 3:13)
Press forward (Phil 3:14)
Forget the Past
Many of us are plagued by past failures. It is good to learn from our mistakes but allowing the regrets of the past to linger, will stagnate you from progressing. So it is vital for our Christian race not to brood over our past successes and failures, but move forward. As we know from Eph. 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Acknowledging this truth means we have good works assigned by the Lord in our day-to-day lives. It is already assigned and we are to successfully complete them before we reach the shore of eternity. We have to let go off our focus on failures or wait for chances but step ahead, forgetting the past.
Pressing forward
The goal here mentioned is nothing but eternity with Jesus by becoming like Him. This is attainable only when we are groomed by the daily working of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word in our lives. If so, we will progress from one degree of glory to another degree of glory as we read in 2Cor. 3:18: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
As we look forward to a new year, may this be our only aim- to become like Him in every way. As we make up our mind to seek after God with such an enthusiasm, we will be astonished at the scores of new doors God opens for us, otherwise unattainable.
May the Lord Almighty bless us all with a Christ-centred new year and help each of us to become like Him.
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, we pray and seek You Lord for Your grace to become confirmed to Your Son Jesus in this new year. In Jesus name amen.