Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”
Keep on keeping on! Don’t look back. God has called His children to move forward. Perfection is not reached in this life. A. W. Tozer wrote defining Spiritual Lethargy, “There is little communion and little joy in the Lord. To have a cold heart with little pity, little fire, little love and little worship.” For many “Christians” there is little joy. There is a coldness with little fire in the life of so many who call themselves Christians.
As great of an Apostle as many see him, Paul did not count himself as having yet attained perfection. Paul did not see himself as a super saint. God is working in the believer’s life to bring about perfection. The follower of Christ finds completeness in life by worshiping and serving Christ.
Paul did not look back, he moved forward to do the things of God. Paul worked towards unity in the fellowship of God. If there were anything in this world that interfered with Paul’s relationship with Christ, he removed it. Paul pressed on toward the goal of the “upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Paul continued in verses 13-16:
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
Today we need to do the same. We, Christians, are to keep on keeping on. Our eyes are to be focused on Christ, not the world. Our goal is to be Christ, not the world. We are not to be complacent in the things of the past, we are to keep moving forward “toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”