Joyful Living Devotional - Day 30
Day 30 – Not There Yet
Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT) 12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 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, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
The joy of knowing Christ far exceeds any other joy. For Paul, nothing can compare to knowing, following, and even suffering for Jesus. Paul makes it clear to the Philippian church that this is a constant, ongoing process of growing in Christ. He is not there yet. He has not reached complete maturity or perfection. He is not done. These words should be both humbling and inspiring for us. If Paul the apostle was still pushing toward the mark of maturity, then we have a ways to go.
Paul says, “I am not there yet, but I do know how I am going to get there.” He uses a beautiful picture of pressing on to possess that mark of maturity. He is trying to lay hold of it in the same way that Jesus laid hold of Him. Jesus grasped him, laid hold of him, and overtook him. Paul is saying that Jesus took possession of him, and now he wants to possess that for which Christ took possession of him. Jesus stopped him in his tracks.
Acts 9:3-6 (NIV) 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
When Jesus apprehended Paul, He did not just knock him off his horse and leave him. He gave Paul instructions to go into the city and to find out what he must do. That is why, later, when appearing before King Agrippa, he was recounting his experience on the road to Damascus.
Acts 26:16–18 (NIV) “16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.”
From Paul’s first encounter with Jesus to the present, as he writes the letter to the Philippians, it is clear that he knows what he is called to do. He knows he is not finished yet, but he is pressing toward the finish line. Like a runner near the finish, he is giving it all he has to reach the place he was called to walk in when Jesus laid hold of him. Each of us has been apprehended by Christ for a specific purpose. We must lay hold of that for which we have been apprehended.
“God has so ordered, that in pressing on in duty we shall find the truest, richest comfort for ourselves. Sitting down to brood over our sorrows, the darkness deepens about us and creeps into our heart, and our strength changes to weakness. But, if we turn away from the gloom, and take up the tasks and duties to which God calls us, the light will come again, and we shall grow stronger.”
– Lettie Cowman
There are several action steps we see in these verses. We press toward the mark of perfection, we focus on forgetting the past, we look to what lies ahead, we run to receive the prize, and we hold on to the progress we have made! We haven’t arrived at perfection yet, but we continue to reach for it. This is not perfectionism from a human standpoint, it is being made perfect by Jesus. How does He do that? He places us in situations that require us to embrace His character and let His nature shine through.
We do that by forgetting the past. You cannot move forward by looking backward! Some people are haunted by their past and try to navigate life by looking in the rearview mirror while driving forward. That’s why they continually run into things and run over people. You have to look in the direction you want to go instead of the direction you came from. Our past should serve as a learning point, not a reference point. We should learn from the mistakes we have made in the past, or even from the good things we have done, but we should never get stuck in the past.
This applies to both the good and the bad. Some people have a great history, so they longingly look back on the “good old days” and wish to repeat them. The problem with that is that it robs us of a hopeful future. You cannot find hope in your past; you can only find hope in your future. In the same way, others are stuck in the regret of the past. If only “I didn’t do that,” “if this had not happened,” or “that had not taken place,” then things would be better. It happened! You did it, or you didn’t do it. Whatever your regrets of the past, they cannot be undone. But here’s what you can do: Focus all your energy on forgetting and looking to your future, not your past.
Then start running toward that heavenly prize. The past is a weight that hinders us from running with endurance. The farther you want to go, the lighter you need to be. The Bible, in the Book of Hebrews, chapter 12, talks about laying aside the weight that so easily hinders us and stripping down so we can run! Marathon runners do not try to wear as much as possible; they try to wear as little as possible. In Ancient Greek times, they ran with a loincloth or even naked. I am not suggesting you do the same. I do, however, recommend that you remove all emotional hindrances from your present or past to move into your God-ordained future.
What are you holding onto that you need to let go of? What are your thoughts focused on—your past or your future? The prize is waiting for you, keep running...
Prayer:
“Father, thank you for helping me not to dwell on the past, nor to sit in the present, but enable me to press towards my future in You. Give me eyes to see the prize that you have laid up for me. Where I fail to see your plan, make it plain to me. Restore my hope for the future and help me hold on to the progress I have made. Thank You for Your grace, which enables me to keep pressing on! In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT) 12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 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, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
The joy of knowing Christ far exceeds any other joy. For Paul, nothing can compare to knowing, following, and even suffering for Jesus. Paul makes it clear to the Philippian church that this is a constant, ongoing process of growing in Christ. He is not there yet. He has not reached complete maturity or perfection. He is not done. These words should be both humbling and inspiring for us. If Paul the apostle was still pushing toward the mark of maturity, then we have a ways to go.
Paul says, “I am not there yet, but I do know how I am going to get there.” He uses a beautiful picture of pressing on to possess that mark of maturity. He is trying to lay hold of it in the same way that Jesus laid hold of Him. Jesus grasped him, laid hold of him, and overtook him. Paul is saying that Jesus took possession of him, and now he wants to possess that for which Christ took possession of him. Jesus stopped him in his tracks.
Acts 9:3-6 (NIV) 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
When Jesus apprehended Paul, He did not just knock him off his horse and leave him. He gave Paul instructions to go into the city and to find out what he must do. That is why, later, when appearing before King Agrippa, he was recounting his experience on the road to Damascus.
Acts 26:16–18 (NIV) “16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.”
From Paul’s first encounter with Jesus to the present, as he writes the letter to the Philippians, it is clear that he knows what he is called to do. He knows he is not finished yet, but he is pressing toward the finish line. Like a runner near the finish, he is giving it all he has to reach the place he was called to walk in when Jesus laid hold of him. Each of us has been apprehended by Christ for a specific purpose. We must lay hold of that for which we have been apprehended.
“God has so ordered, that in pressing on in duty we shall find the truest, richest comfort for ourselves. Sitting down to brood over our sorrows, the darkness deepens about us and creeps into our heart, and our strength changes to weakness. But, if we turn away from the gloom, and take up the tasks and duties to which God calls us, the light will come again, and we shall grow stronger.”
– Lettie Cowman
There are several action steps we see in these verses. We press toward the mark of perfection, we focus on forgetting the past, we look to what lies ahead, we run to receive the prize, and we hold on to the progress we have made! We haven’t arrived at perfection yet, but we continue to reach for it. This is not perfectionism from a human standpoint, it is being made perfect by Jesus. How does He do that? He places us in situations that require us to embrace His character and let His nature shine through.
We do that by forgetting the past. You cannot move forward by looking backward! Some people are haunted by their past and try to navigate life by looking in the rearview mirror while driving forward. That’s why they continually run into things and run over people. You have to look in the direction you want to go instead of the direction you came from. Our past should serve as a learning point, not a reference point. We should learn from the mistakes we have made in the past, or even from the good things we have done, but we should never get stuck in the past.
This applies to both the good and the bad. Some people have a great history, so they longingly look back on the “good old days” and wish to repeat them. The problem with that is that it robs us of a hopeful future. You cannot find hope in your past; you can only find hope in your future. In the same way, others are stuck in the regret of the past. If only “I didn’t do that,” “if this had not happened,” or “that had not taken place,” then things would be better. It happened! You did it, or you didn’t do it. Whatever your regrets of the past, they cannot be undone. But here’s what you can do: Focus all your energy on forgetting and looking to your future, not your past.
Then start running toward that heavenly prize. The past is a weight that hinders us from running with endurance. The farther you want to go, the lighter you need to be. The Bible, in the Book of Hebrews, chapter 12, talks about laying aside the weight that so easily hinders us and stripping down so we can run! Marathon runners do not try to wear as much as possible; they try to wear as little as possible. In Ancient Greek times, they ran with a loincloth or even naked. I am not suggesting you do the same. I do, however, recommend that you remove all emotional hindrances from your present or past to move into your God-ordained future.
What are you holding onto that you need to let go of? What are your thoughts focused on—your past or your future? The prize is waiting for you, keep running...
Prayer:
- Pray and ask the Lord Jesus to supernaturally enable you to focus on forgetting the past, good or bad. Then let it go...
- Ask the Lord to forgive you of anything that hinders you from embracing the future He has for you.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to give you endurance for your race.
“Father, thank you for helping me not to dwell on the past, nor to sit in the present, but enable me to press towards my future in You. Give me eyes to see the prize that you have laid up for me. Where I fail to see your plan, make it plain to me. Restore my hope for the future and help me hold on to the progress I have made. Thank You for Your grace, which enables me to keep pressing on! In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
Posted in Joyful Living Devotional