TEXT
Philippians 3:12–14
KEY VERSE
“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after…”
Philippians 3:12, KJV
CONTEXT
Paul had already accomplished much. He had preached Christ, suffered for the gospel, planted churches, and walked with God through experiences many of us can only imagine. Yet when he speaks about his spiritual life, he does not speak as someone who has arrived.
He says, “Not as though I had already attained.”
Paul knew there was still room to grow.
REFLECTION
There is something humbling about hearing Paul say, “I have not arrived.”
If anyone could have looked at their spiritual history and felt satisfied, Paul had reasons to. But he refused to measure his present commitment by his past achievements.
He says, “I follow after,” because he understood that Christ Jesus had apprehended him for a reason.
Oh, I want you to refuse settling for where you are spiritually. Desire that God put a holy dissatisfaction in you that would drive you deeper into Christ. You know that you have not come up to the level Christ Jesus wants you to be, but most times, our attitudes betray us. Our actions betray us. We know we have not attained that height, but we do not follow after.
Oh Lord, take possession of our hearts and deliver us from divided desires, and give us a heart that follows hard after You.
Have you not seen yourself in a situation where following Christ becomes obviously difficult because of competing ambitions? What has kept you from following Christ?
Oh Lord, deliver us from whatever it is that is keeping us from following You hard. You called us and brought us into Your family for a reason. You did not call us to remain spiritually stagnant or to live a life of constant rise and fall. There is a higher calling. There is a deeper life in Christ that You are calling us into.
We must strongly desire to apprehend the purpose for which Christ apprehended us.
Let’s sincerely ask ourselves, since we gave our lives to Christ, have we simply become familiar with Christianity, or are we actually growing into becoming like Christ?
Growth is very, very important because, as stagnant water eventually becomes turbid and stinks, so stagnation can give those outside the faith a reason to profane the name of our Lord.
We know that God has been dealing with us in certain areas and that maybe our prayer lives have been inconsistent. There may be habits that you have been postponing to stop or something we keep negotiating with God about.
And sometimes we tell ourselves, “At least I have changed so much already.” “I am no longer a newbie in the things of the kingdom.”
But Paul had changed so much already too.
He still pressed forward because knowing Christ is not something we graduate from.
Then he says, “Forgetting those things which are behind.”
We must free ourselves from being imprisoned by former failures, thinking, “Because I have been failing, I will surely fail again,” or, “I have made terrible mistakes, so there is no need to continue following Christ.”
But we must also be careful of former victories and accomplishments. Do not allow your failures to condemn you, or your victories and accomplishments to make you complacent.
May the Holy Spirit stretch you, your faith, prayer life, willingness to obey, and capacity for holiness. Do not allow yourself to keep looking backward at what you used to be.
Lord, teach us to keep going, whether we feel like it or not, until we break through into the deeper life You are calling us into.
KEY TAKEAWAY
Do not become so comfortable with how far you have come that you stop pursuing how much more God wants to do in you.
PRAYER
Father, thank You for how far You have brought me, but do not let me become comfortable with where I am. Give me the humility to recognize where I still need to grow. Help me to leave both my failures and my past achievements behind and keep pressing toward Christ. Make me more like Jesus, day by day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
TODAY’S CHALLENGE
Read Philippians 3:12–14 again. Think honestly about one area where you have become comfortable instead of continuing to grow. Pray about it, then take one specific step of obedience today.
Do not wait until you feel ready.
Follow after. Press forward. Keep growing.
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