Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Philippians 3:12
When I traveled for a living, there was one thing that I was most interested in. Everything, and I mean everything revolved around the arrival. The arrival was the most important thing. Without the arrival, nothing else mattered.
This is how I made my travel plans. My starting point was the arrival time at the destination. I started with when and where I needed to be and worked backwards from there. If I needed to be at a meeting, I started with the time and location and started adding up all the things I needed to do in order to make it there on time.
How long to get there from the airport.
How long it took to pick-up the rental car.
How long to walk through the airport.
How long to fly there.
How long to check in.
How long to park and get to the airport.
How long to drive to the airport.
As you can tell, I like to plan. Or another way to look at it is that I’m just totally nuts. But I go through this and a whole lot more because if you have a goal, it’s not just going to happen. It takes planning. It takes work. But it takes something at the beginning that many people just don’t get when it comes to their lives with God. Are you ready for it? I’m going to say something that you probably haven’t thought of with your life with Jesus. OK, here we go.
You need a goal. You need a destination. You need to know when you’re going, where you are, and how to get there. You need a target or you’ll never know when you’ve hit it. You need a destination or you’ll never know when you’ve arrived.
Paul not only knew this, but he also practiced it. He had a goal and knew where it was. He saw the goal for what it was – a stretch. His goal was to change into a person that he wasn’t. He wanted to be somebody else. Somebody new. We know this because of how he describes his goal. His goal is not where he is but somewhere else. Somewhere in the future. Somewhere down the road. There was lots of room not just for some improvement, but for lots and lots of improvement.
And getting there wasn’t going to be easy either. It wasn’t going to be a bed of roses or a cakewalk. It wasn’t going to happen by downloading a new app on his phone. Or starting a new diet. Or going to a new church. Paul says that he is going to press on. He’s going to put up a fight to get it. He’s going to be like a fisherman going after “the big one.” Or a hunter going after that huge animal who’s head will look great on the wall. No price is too high. No effort is too much.
When Paul says that he’s pressing on, it’s not just on Sunday. It’s an everyday pressing on. He’s constantly pressing on. He’s actively pressing on. Again, this means that he has to know where he’s going. What’s his goal. Where the target is. And as you get near your target, you don’t stop short. You don’t use up all that time, energy, and money just to get close. You desperately want to reach the goal. You want to cross the line. Get to the top. You need to make it yours.
That’s the way Paul felt about his goal. He was actively going after his goal. Each and every day he was doing something to help him achieve his goal. So, the question is whether we feel that same way or not? Do we have a goal and are we actively going after it daily? Here are three things to get started.
First of all, do we even have a goal? Do we have a target that we’re shooting for? Do we see specific areas of growth where God wants change? How do we desperately want to become more like Jesus?
Second, how are we doing? Are we on the path to achieving the goal? Are we moving closer? Are we sliding away from it? Or are we stuck in neutral, just sitting there?
Third, what are we spending? It may seem odd to think about spending on your spiritual growth, but it’s required. You’ll need to spend time, energy, and even money on moving forward with Jesus. It isn’t just going to fall from heaven.
Whether we realize it or not, we have a goal. We all have something that we want to achieve and are spending our time, energy, and money on. It could be to have a comfortable life. It could be to have peace, avoiding conflict. It could be to look young and successful. Paul had all these things, and more. But when Jesus took hold of him, everything changed. He didn’t see life differently; he saw it wildly different. He was seeing life from a higher place. From God’s perspective.
Have you come to the place where you see life from God’s perspective? Are you at the point where everything has changed from what you see to who loves you? The only way to truly know that you’ve come to that point is being willing to let Jesus take hold of you. He wants to hold you. Are you willing to let him?
Noodling Questions
What destinations do you have for our relationship with God?
How can we evaluate our progress or lack of growth?
How can we plan better for our arrival to a life that pleases God?