Friday, January 16, 2009

Pressing On (1)


I've been meditating a great deal on the calling of Paul's life of "knowing" Christ Jesus (Phil 3:8, 10). As we talked about last Friday, this pursuit of Paul's life was nothing short of a race he describes as "pressing" on to gain Christ and one day enjoy perfect fellowship with his king (3:10, 14).

When I see the words "straining forward (v. 13)" to what lies ahead, and "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (3:8)" I'm aware of how much my thinking needs to change regarding my pursuit after God.

It makes me think of think of the 60 minute story about the ultramarathon runner. His answer to the question, "how do you keep going?" by Leslie Stahl was interesting.

"Babysteps."

When I first heard that I thought, "are you kidding me?" That's the line from "What about Bob?"

But the more I've thought about it, I'm challenged that those who run, and keep on running after the prize keep their eyes on the prize and take it one step at a time. Nobody enjoys pressing on for the sake of pressing on. This guy knows what it's like to lose his lunch, wipe off his mouth and keep on running.

This is how Paul viewed the race of his life. Get up. Get going. Knowing Christ is all. Knowing Christ will cost.

What motivates an ultramarathon runner to run after a momentary prize provokes me to run after an eternal one--the Eternal One.

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