Goals
Goals
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:14
How often in life do we strive to achieve something? We work more to make more money. We work harder to get a promotion. We work tirelessly, for years, even decades to have more. Whether it’s more time, more money, more freedom - we believe the more we do, the more we will get.
Since the day I turned my life over to Jesus Christ - I have struggled. I have struggled to let go of a lifetime of doing it my way, to a type of thinking that led me to believe I knew best and onward to let Christ lead the way. I have spent the nearly past three years trying to figure out how to not figure it out. It’s obvious why more people aren’t Christian’s, it’s still a struggle.
Paul, formerly known as Saul - held the coats of the Pharisees as they stoned Stephen. He stood by and watched and wrote about it. Paul’s past was filled with horrible acts. Paul, even as a Christian, struggled with his thought-life. Yet, as he sat in prison writing to the people of the church in Philppi, he thanked them for their gift and expressed the importance of their goal.
As Christian’s we have a debt to pay. We have placed our faith in Jesus Christ because He is the only One that can save us. He is our savior. He gave His life for ours.
Nobody forced us to turn our lives to live in a life of faith towards Him. We chose to place all of our faith, trust and obedience on God, instead of ourselves. And why did we do this? Because we realized we couldn’t do it on our own. We couldn’t continue in our lives, living them the way we want to, with our desires and our goals. The promises we read in the Bible have strengthened our faith and made it a reality for us to follow.
Now with that out of the way - there is a repayment for our spending. And this repayment is our goal. We are to live our lives paying for the debt that was given to clear our way to eternal salvation. Without Jesus dying on the cross for our sins - we would spend eternity in hell because of the sins we have committed and the ones we will still yet commit. You see many of us never would have had faith if Jesus didn’t die for us. There would be no story. Sure there may have been miracles and stories of a man who walked among other men healing people. But without the sacrifice we would have no savior, no goal. Without the sacrifice, at best we would’ve had a legend, a hero or maybe just a folklore.
So as Christian’s, we have an obligation that is centered on a goal. Our goal is to glorify God in Heaven with what we do on earth.
Our job isn’t to sit around and soak it all in doing what we want to do. This kind of thinking is selfish and surely doesn’t amount to the ransom that was paid for us.
You won’t lose your salvation if you don’t do a thing, but that really doesn’t seem fair, does it? You didn’t have to do anything in order to have eternal security. You just have to believe Jesus is real, that He died for you and that He is the savior of the World. Belief, that’s it.
Have you really placed everything you live and breath for in one moment? I can’t imagine living a life where I didn’t honor someone who paid for something I could never pay back. Especially something so valuable. We haven’t attained it “all” in the moment of turning our lives to Christ. We are merely saved from ourselves. And the journey has just begun.
“Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:12
As Paul wrote, we are not to live in our past. We are to press on, looking ahead. Looking for the things that bring value to what has been paid for us. Do you think about that every day? Are your actions and your words bringing glory to God? It is not our past that defines us, it’s what we do for God in our lives, that define us as Christians.
“Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14
As children of God, we are His children, citizens already of the place we will call home. We temporarily live here on earth, and one day we will be with our Father in Heaven. Are we a proper representative of our family?
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with His glorious body, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
Philippians 3:20-21
It pains me to see people call themselves Christian’s who don’t read and study their Bible daily, who aren’t having Christ-centered conversations, who aren’t discipling others and who aren’t constantly in prayer with God or sharing the Gospel.
“Brothers and sisters, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even as I weep, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things.”
Philippians 3:17-19
It sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Or maybe it sounds like the amount we should pay for someone who sacrificed themselves for us.
What are your goals?