Paul has run long and hard for the Prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And yet 30 years after ditching everything else, he still doesn’t have the Prize in hand.

“But,” he says, “I press on to take possession of that for which Christ has possessed me.”

The Prize has gripped Paul’s heart like a tractor beam from heaven. And the rest of his life is a constant striving and straining to get a grip on the Prize.

You will notice that the metaphor has shifted from the spreadsheet to the stadium. Paul is on the home stretch of his 30-year race. The finish line is in sight.

“This one thing I do,” he says. And then he mentions three things. But actually, it’s a three-in-one thing.

First: Forgetting what lies behind. A runner can’t afford to look back on the ground already covered or at the opponents on his heels. That could cost him the crown.

Paul had to forget his pedigree, his righteousness, and all that he had stood to gain in Judaism, and focus exclusively on the course now set before him.

Second: Straining forward to what lies ahead. This is a charged expression in Greek. It means to “exert oneself to the uttermost”. Like a gladiator in the arena. Like an athlete on the home stretch, straining every muscle to reach the goal.

No runner can afford to be casual or half-hearted in the race. One who breaks his stride after catching sight of the finish line has lost his mind and will lose the race.

Third: I press on … This is the main verb in the text and the one thing Paul does: I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call.

The Greek word for press on means “strive, struggle, pursue”. Like an athlete on the pitch, Paul has caught sight of the goal. And beyond that lay the Prize: Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things (Philippians 3:8).

Nothing can stop him now. This is Paul’s life-long response to the high call of God in Christ Jesus: One thing for One Thing.

You can’t get more single-minded than that. Is this your response?

Pray Now

1 No athlete in his right mind drags his feet in the race – especially not on the home stretch.

• Rise Up. Confess the reality: No one grows in Christlikeness by simply coasting along casually and going with the flow, following from a distance. Never! To begin well is easy. To end well is great. But to keep going and growing from start to finish is divine. It takes a lifetime of immense effort. Will you press on?
• Shape Up. No matter how you feel about your spiritual state, determine in prayer to hold yourself accountable to God now and from henceforth: Today, I declare: “No man can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). I declare: There’s no higher calling, no greater quest than the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. To know Christ. To gain Christ. To be found in Christ. He alone is my one passion, my highest pursuit, my everything, my all in all. He is first, foremost, and forever. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else! To live is Christ.

2 No athlete in his right mind keeps looking back at what is behind him.

• Gear Up. Ponder and pray: To learn from the past is wisdom. To live in the past is folly. There is no future in the past. No matter how glorious your achievements have been, put them behind you. That part of your race is done. Don’t veer off into an ego trip. Stay on track. You have not arrived. “The best is yet to be.”
• Catch Up. No matter how gross your failures have been, don’t let them trip you up. If you have confessed your sins and repented, leave the past in the past. Don’t lose your stride. Pace your self for the long haul. If you are weak and weary, don’t give up. Christ runs beside you. Today, draw strength and courage from Him. He is with you. He is for you. A bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench (Isaiah 42:3). Today, call upon His name. Ask God to grip your heart with one thing: To live is Christ. Resolve to be “earnest, strong, uncompromising, meticulous, wholehearted, and fervent in spirit” (JC Ryle) to finish your race on earth with distinction – for God’s honour.

3 No athlete in his right mind takes his eyes off the goal.

• Look up. Without a clear and compelling vision to live for Christ, we lag behind in complacency. We run off track in a thousand directions. We cast off restraint and go around in circles. We trip on our own feet. Pray strenuously for the opposite.
• Buck up. Speak prophetically over the Singapore Church. That like Paul, the consummate man of action, we will press on in a whole-of-church response:
  • We will narrow our interests to excel in the One Thing: To know Christ and to make Him known.
  • We will revamp the entire operating system and transform the entire church culture from the inside out to do the One Thing: To know Christ and to make Him known. 
  • We will stretch every nerve, every fibre of our being for the One Thing: To know Christ and to make Him known. To run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

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