Press Towards the Mark

Phil.3:14, ‘I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’

Here, apostle Paul is talking about a course, which has a beginning and an end. The beginning has already happened. The end is yet to come. Verse 12 makes it clear as to which course he is referring to. ‘Not as though I had already attained, either was already perfect:…….’. It can be named as the ‘course of perfection’. This course of perfection is what the apostle refers to as ‘the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ in verse 14.
All of us have a unique calling to serve the Lord through various ways or gifts in various places, but we all have the same high calling of perfection. The perfect God has called us to be perfect. Each of us are running this course of perfection, but are we reaching closer to the mark of perfection set before us in any way ? Or are we going backward ? Or are we in the same level for years together ? Let’s meditate as to how apostle Paul ran this course of perfection .
Verses 13 and 14 together speaks about three things Paul did :
1. Forgetting those things which are behind.
2. Reaching forth to the things before us.
3. Pressing towards the mark.

1. Forgetting those things which are behind : We live most of our present time in our past. Forgetting the things which are behind is like cutting away all the cords that pull us backward. In verse 8, Paul talked about suffering the loss of all things which were gain to him. We seldom remember things which has not affected us in anyway. But we have a nature to remember the bitter experiences more than the joyous experiences. If we note carefully, bitter and hurting memories flow into our mindset without much effort, but to think and remember good experiences, we often have to make efforts. Besides the joyous moments of our Christian life, we have losses, hurts and bitter experiences, but all these happen for good for all who love the Lord. There is a purpose behind everything that happens in our lives. Nothing is a co-incidence. The only thing we ought to remember is that the purpose of the Lord is often hidden. But if we truly seek it with all our heart, we can surely find the pearls of good and profitable experiences even in the midst of negative and depressing things happening in our lives. Our attitude towards such makes the whole difference.

The best way of forgetting all the losses is to change the attitude towards them. Paul’s attitude had changed. He suffered the loss of all things which he had seen as gain. This changed his attitude towards them. He could now count the gains as dung. But it was not the mere suffering of losses which changed his attitude. In fact, it was the winning experience which changed his attitude. He won ‘Christ’ through his love for the Lord even in the midst of losses. The word ‘Christ’ denotes the ‘anointment’. Paul grew in anointment and turned his loosing experience into winning experience. This played an important role in making him forget the sufferings and losses rather than persisting in the remembrance of them.

2. Reaching forth to the things which are before us : As we run this course of perfection, the 1st thing we ought to do is the forgetting part. Then comes the ‘reaching out’ to the things that are before us. Reaching out without forgetting is like allowing a tug of war in our mindset. This will only tear us apart instead of building us up. Forgetting the losses is essential before we reach out .

The things which are before us are the marks of perfection. God wants us to be perfect. Whether possible or not is often a debatable issue. But I believe that God will never ask us to do anything which we cannot do. It’s surely a tough course, but not an impossible course. It is possible through Christ who has already won the course of perfection. Whether we finally attain perfection or not, let’s be reminded that striving towards it is as important as capturing it.

Phil.3:11, ‘If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.’ Every person who dies will surely resurrect, either to be condemned or to be saved. This, the resurrection from the dead to be ultimately be found in Him is the mark of perfection. For this, being found in Christ while living on this earth is essential. Every time we prove our death towards this world and the things of this world, we prove our resurrection in Christ. Apostle Paul was alive to this world as long as he took pride and confidence in various achieve-ments . Phil.3:4-6, ‘Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more : Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee: concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.’ But none of these could lead him to Christ. They lost its value when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. These losses made him dead to this world. Rather than mourning over them, he rejoiced by seeing those as dung . Today, how often we take pride in our flesh and things of flesh. If we still have the tendency to mourn over our losses due to our decisions to live for Christ, we still are alive to this world. Many of us leave our families, businesses, traditional churches etc while deciding to live for Jesus, but soon in due course of time, we proclaim the value of such losses more than the gain we have had in Jesus, so much so that it seems that we are regretting over our decisions rather than rejoicing over them. On the other hand, if we still rejoice over the losses occurred due to our spiritual lives, we have a reason to believe in our death to this world.

3. Pressing towards the mark : Pressing towards the mark is making all efforts with all our heart and strength to strive towards perfection. Such attitudes, which prove our death to this world don’t come easily. They come step by step, as and how we grow in His knowledge and revelation. They don’t come automatically. We need to make a deliberate effort towards it by applying the knowledge about Christ in every attitude of our mindset. In fact, we need to press towards it and strive ahead. Or else, we’ll find ourselves soon being pulled back by our losses . ‘I’ need to press ….none else can press for me. I need to be determined to grow and turn the various experiences of losses, hurts, pain, abandonment etc as the stepping stones towards perfection. I need to be determined to not to allow such moments of life to pull us down spiritually and loose all the valuable time. Just as an eagle overcomes its downward pulling body weight by its sharp upward vision and thus soars high into the sky, lets overcome our losses by growing in His spiritual anointment and turn them to winning experiences of our spiritual life.

Dear friends, time and tide waits for no man. Apostle Paul was a person who understood the value of time very well. It was because he realized that he had spent a major chunk of his life in running after things which were worthless. Hence, ever since he met Jesus, every moment of his life, whether in jail or among the waves of the sea, whether in pain or in rest, we find him running on the fast track. He hardly stopped. In fact, nothing could stop him. He jumped over every hurdle of his spiritual life . And hence, he could later on write confidently that he ran the race of faith well.

Let’s make use of our time by putting away our mourning clothes and turning our losses to wining experiences. May God strengthen each of us ! God bless you !