Philippians 3:13b-14 – “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
As I meditated on this passage where Paul used runners in a race, I thought about their body position – “straining forward”. We cannot strain forward and look behind at the same time. As believers we are called to leave our past in the past. Our past is where our unredeemed self lived, and that person is dead and gone. We are new creations in Christ, the old has passed and the new has come as 2 Corinthians 5:17 reminds us. In Paul’s example, it isn’t just the runners’ bodies that are straining forward; their mind, will and emotions are in this race as well. They are not thinking about the last race that didn’t go as well, or the next race in the coming week. They are not thinking about the other runners and how they are doing in relation to their own pace. They are only thinking about crossing the finish line.
We are called to a more important race than that of physical speed, agility and endurance. We are called to run in the Kingdom race, each of us with our particular work that our loving God has ordained to love others. We are competing in different events, using the strengths and gifts that God has given us, and while we finish individually, we are a unified team. We are called to keep our eyes on the goal of finishing well and receiving the prize from the Lord, “well done, good and faithful servant”.
Some of us are called to minister to your neighbors; some to minister to our town or city, others to minister across states and others to minister across countries. Whatever the Lord has called you to do, walk in it. The time to run the race is now. May this new year be truly a new year for you!
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