Philippians 3

Philippians 3 – The Joy of Believing


“…But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be…I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” (vs. 12-13) Paul counted everything else as worthless when compared to knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord…counted everything else as garbage so that he could be one with Christ Jesus! (vs. 8)

We can choose to have the same attitude and focus as Paul, or we can be like the world…those who “want easy street, which is a dead-end street…and those who live on easy street make their bellies their gods, belches are their praise, all they can think of is their appetites.” (verses 18-19 Message Remix Bible). This always makes me first think of food, but appetites are anything that we love more and spend more time with than Jesus…anything that we have exalted in our life above Jesus and the Word of God.

It is easy to become distracted with life, with the things of this world. But we need the single-minded focus of a runner. When Heather ran on the cross country team and on the track team in high school, she did not look at the trees or the landscape or the birds or the spectators cheering her on as she ran the 2 mile race. If she had, she would have slowed her pace, tripped or fallen, and forgotten all about the finish line. Instead, she looked straight ahead and kept a steady pace – one foot in front of the other – toward the finish line! We, too, need to keep our eyes straight ahead, keep a steady pace, as we grow and mature in Jesus.

“Do you see what this means – all those pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running – and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God…” Hebrews 12:1-2 Message Remix Bible.

What is distracting you/me? What is holding you/me back? Let’s get rid of our spiritual fat and parasitic sins (those things that so easily trip us up) and run the race to the finish!