A Reminder to Focus Forward
PHILIPPIANS 3: 5-21
(October 2)
Of all the many plaques and awards I have received in my adult life, most of them have been discarded after years of sitting in a box on a shelf. There is only one that I have held on to. It is my award for being named Citizen of the Year in my hometown almost 20 years ago.
Why do I keep it? Is it because it was such an honor to receive it? It absolutely was an honor to receive it, but I keep it for a very different reason ... to remind me not to go back to that again.
You see, I got that award because of my "devotion to my community" and my "diligent work to make it a better place." Countless hours were put into various sporting groups, civic activities, and volunteer opportunities. I served my community as best as I possibly could. But in the process of serving my community, I failed in serving my family. I put their needs on the back burner so that I could meet the needs of others.
So, I keep the award to remind me of what is REALLY important in life ... my God and my family. I don't want to put them on the backburner so that I can accomplish and achieve elsewhere.
Do I want to be productive in my community? Absolutely! Do I want to help where I can? Of course! But not at the expense of those I hold near and dear.
Paul is telling the Philippians who he used to be. He is explaining what he once held valuable in his life. He now sees that those things are absolutely worthless when compared with knowing Jesus. He has discarded all that he used to be and know so that he could gain a relationship with Christ.
He is not boasting when he speaks of his prior achievements. In fact, he is showing that human achievements cannot earn a person salvation and eternal life with God. His impressive credentials: his upbringing, his nationality, his family background, his inheritance, orthodoxy, activity, and morality ... none of that was the base of his conversion to faith. Only God's grace was responsible for that heart change.
During that time, he had persecuted the church because he agreed with the leaders of the religious establishment that Christianity was heretical and blasphemous. Jesus didn't meet the expectations of what they thought the Messiah should be, so Paul assumed his claims were false. By being false, they were wicked, in his way of thinking.
He also saw Christianity as a political menace that threatened to disrupt the fragile harmony between the Jews and the Roman government. He thought it to be nothing but a giant problem.
In this letter he urges the Philippians to forget the past ... their achievements, their thoughts and ideas ... and focus forward to what lies ahead in a relationship with Christ. He likened it to a race in which the prize at the end would be eternity in heaven.
Paul wanted to be an example to them of how to live life ... sacrificial, as Christians eagerly waiting for the return of the Savior.
The advice holds good for us today. To take our minds off of "self" and what we do or accomplish, and to put it on "Savior", who calls us to him to serve in humility. WE are not the focus of the equation, HE is.
We serve him well by cultivating our relationship daily, by serving our family in humility, and by serving others who are in need ... not to receive a fancy plaque to hand on the wall, but to receive the greatest reward ... eternity in glory.