Philippians 3:12-14

Philippians 3:12-14 – 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.

        Our goal is perfection. None of us are there yet. We all have work to do. As long as we are on this earth we need to be continually improving and moving toward that goal. We will not fully reach the goal until the day when Christ returns and we are made perfect in Him, but in the meantime we continue to work toward it.

        We must remember that God has called us. Each of us has a specific plan and purpose for our lives that was preordained by Him. We need to recognize that it will take work to achieve it. In this verse we see Paul understands that he is not there yet, but we also see his desire to keep working toward it. We, too, must look at our lives and take stock in where we are and then look at where you want to be.

        Your goal should be your focus. You will travel in the direction that you are looking. If you are looking in the past, your life will never move forward. Join with Paul in “forgetting what is behind,” and let go of the past. It made you who you are today, but has nothing to do with who you will be tomorrow. Let it go and focus on what God has for you to do now.

As long as you are focusing on God you will be moving towards your goal. He says, “Seek first the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness.” When you do, everything else will fall into place. So, as Paul said in this verse we must say now: “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.”