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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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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.”
What an amazing man Paul was.
As we look back over the centuries and include the fledgling first century church, few people have had such an enormous impact as that of the Apostle Paul. All the way through, he showed that humility of spirit and undying focused passion that constantly drove him on to fulfil the purpose God had for his life. Even to the end, he would do all in his power to complete the task for which God had set him apart. What a tremendous role model he is for us.
As we saw earlier, he endured far more opposition than maybe many of us put together, yet he remained undeterred and passionately consumed, regardless of the pressures and conflicts. He would faithfully serve His Lord with every ounce of his energy, with every beat of his heart and with every breath in his body.
It is worth a study and meditation all on its own, isn’t it? Why did he take his call so seriously? Why didn’t he, like most of us, just treat it as ‘part’ of his life rather than getting totally consumed?
Have the call and claims of Christ changed over the years? If so how? If not, why are we so lethargic?
Paul reminds us that our past is neither our crown nor our handicap. It is one of the tremendous joys of the Christian life, that each new day is a new beginning in Christ. Yesterday’s failure is over and dealt with – forgiven and forgotten if confessed and repented of. Don’t let the enemy bring back before you issues for which you have already been forgiven. No matter what of our past may catch up with us, if it has been forgiven, then we can leave it behind and move on. It’s a ‘Ring of Truth’!
Abraham left behind the mistakes of Egypt and Ishmael (Genesis 12 & 16); Jacob left behind him the deception of Isaac and Esau (Genesis 27); Joseph put behind him all the vindictiveness of his brothers and injustice of Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 37 & 39); Moses put behind him the murder of the Egyptian (Exodus 2); David put behind him his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah (2 Samuel 11) and Paul put behind him the persecution of the Christians and the martyrdom of Stephen for which he had been ‘in favour’ (Acts 7-9).
We can do the same. No matter how we have ‘stuffed up’ – God is ready and willing to forgive. He forgives all my sins (see Psalm 103:3; 1 John 1:9).
We are not to rest on our past successes either. Again, just look at the life of Moses. He experienced the ‘success’ over Pharaoh and the ‘success’ over the Red Sea (Exodus 14) but he still had to go on and lead the people through the wilderness journey. Consider Elijah - his deepest valley was immediately after his greatest victory (see 1 Kings 18-19).
Life is about the long haul, the marathon, not the 100-metre dash. We all face failure, disappointments and success – it is how we handle them that matters. Interestingly enough, success can be as hard or harder to handle well than failure. This is because pride and ego play their part. That is why it is so important to leave behind both success and failure.
Paul acknowledges that there is an awesome prize to be won. That should get us all out of our lethargy and focused upon, not an earthly ‘empty’ and temporary crown, but one of eternal value reserved for us in Heaven. Jesus is worth all our perseverance.
How is your resolve to win? Be like Paul in today’s message.
Let’s be single-focused with dogged determination to complete what Christ Jesus has called us to do – with no ‘looking back’ (see Luke 9:62).
And don’t forget – there is a goal – an Eternal prize.
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