Press On!…

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid 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. 

Paul? Hadn’t laid hold of it yet? (If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. Philippians 3:4-6)

Here I thought I was “getting it – on the fast track to graduation”. In comparison, I know nothing!

Discouraged? Heck no! It’s a good thing, no it’s essential that we see ourselves clearly. When we believe we have/we know/we are, everything we ever need, we have been taken to the wilderness by our enemy.

It is no coincidence that Jesus went there first… In order to defeat sin and death, Jesus had to be confronted by man’s nature (self-centered) and display the way of escape. (1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.)

Check it out…

Matthew 4:1-4… hungry – for food or anything else we feel we need. If we are the children of God… call it into existence!

Matthew 4:5-7… prove that you are the child of God… prove He cares!

Matthew 4:8-11… if you were mine, I wouldn’t deny you anything…

Every answer… ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’…“On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’… For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’… is about WHO GOD IS!

Every temptation is about us and an attempt to make us believe God has, or is, or will fail us. If we begin to believe our own press (what a PERFECT child I have become) we are in danger of turning our back on God and giving ourselves over to our worst enemy.

Think about it… Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, blameless as to the righteousness which is in the Law… he believed he was doing the highest work of God!

Then, he met Jesus. Acts 9:4-6 “Saul, Saul, why are  you persecuting me?… get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”

Paul was schooled!

Philippians 3:7-11 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 

And he learned! What he thought he knew… in his own words, he counts them but rubbish.

For a gain far greater than anything he might have derived from the Law… the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection…  in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. In order that he will be ready… for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Paul, does not think he has laid hold of it yet… Why not? I brag and put on my laurel crown for a lot less than his resume.

Romans 7:14-20 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

Yep, yep… perfect description of me!

Wretched woman that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Romans 7:24

Who? God, Himself! Romans 8:3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Paul knows… Romans 8:18 For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Sufferings of this present time??? Dealing with ourselves!!!

Romans 8:22-23 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

Groaning… in labor… THIS is the definition of life on this side of heaven.

But God…

Romans 8:28-30 And we know that God causes all things to work for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, sos that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Groaning, labor, temptation, suffering, loss…

Romans 8:31-35 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? (good question whose voice are you hearing?) He who did not spare His own son, but delivered Him over for us , how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies, who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Paul has the perfect response… forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,  

PRESS ON toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Our response to every temptation to take over and do it our way…

BE CONVINCED… that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

PRESS ON… and lean in… we’re heading to glory! And not only this… Get ready for the ride of your life… God is good all the time!

And all the time… GOD IS GOOD!!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible