Philippians 3:12-16 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
What have we already attained? Through faith in Christ and his works, we have attained righteousness, peace, love; harmony with God. No longer are we outside of God's plan of restoring humans to an intimate relationship with him, a closer bonding than walking and talking with him in the Garden. His plan of creating children who abide eternally with him in the inner most part of his heart is our inheritance. On the cross, Jesus paid the complete price for this close relationship. Through his works alone, we have obtained salvation: right standing with God the Father. We are no longer considered God's enemies, but his friends, his beloved children. Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. (Romans 5:1-2) We have attained this privileged position because of God's grace and mercy. He has fulfilled both sides of his covenant with mankind: his side and ours as humans through the works of Jesus Christ. Jesus became human to fulfill our side. We, in our flesh, fall short of perfection: sinlessness. We are unable to keep his law of righteousness; we are lawbreakers, covenant breakers, our hearts without Christ are deceitfully wicked. "We will do it," as the Children of Israel proclaimed when the law and its regulations were read, is often our proclamation to God, but we eventually discover that our wayward spirits will not do it. Our basic nature is not conducive to following God's laws, his plans. We cannot fulfill our part of the covenant of righteousness through our works. Consequently, Paul exhilarating message is to leave the old ways of pleasing God through our works and let us live up to that which has already been attained through the work of the cross: God's mercy and grace, liberally poured out on all flesh through the work of his Son.
What goal are we pressing on to win? What prize is there for us? Paul says in verse 11, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Are we not living in the presence of God through faith in Christ's work? Are we not new creatures, born again by the blood of the Lamb? Paul realizes we have been given the genesis of a new creature. From the throne of God, we have been given righteousness, justice, peace, love. All of this and more is part of the nature of God, freely given to mankind if we will partake of what God freely offers. As sure as God is real, not an imagination, so are these attributes of God. They are not just good thoughts, psychological states, emotional ways of thinking. No, they are as real as God himself. They penetrate our hearts if we allow them to enter our domain of thinking and acting. Paul is pressing on to allow God's attributes to become his total character, personality. He is pressing on to allow God's nature to replace his nature in everything he does. Paul desires his life to be moving heavenward, moving into the nature of an adopted son of God, which someday will culminate in full bloom at his own resurrection. At that day, he will be fully known as a child of God. We also have that inheritance before us. We will be know as his children: his sons, his daughters when we pass onto the other side. As we read in the Word: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:16-17 KJV) All of us who are mature in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and his works should understand our true nature as sons and daughters of the Most High. If we have difficulty catching hold of our true nature in God, we should remember the works we have already attained.
Now, let us consider the practicalities of living for Christ. Even though, Jesus has given us right standing with God and his Spirit, we still live in a world of struggle and temptation. We often fall short of displaying God and his attributes to the world. Even though we have the nature of God in us: his righteousness, his peace, his joy, his justice, and so on, we many times fail to demonstrate HIS image to the world through our actions and reactions. We claim to have his Spirit within; yet, at times we fail to reveal his grace and mercy to others. Rather than behaving Christ-like, we become short tempered, judgmental, or even self-righteous. In times when we are anxious, troubled, upset, or depressed, we can accentuate fleshly thinking rather than heavenly thinking. When faith in God loses its preeminence, we tend to lose sight of God and his purposes, substituting the reactions of the flesh, which carry dire consequences. Paul says, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. I press to know Jesus in my everyday life. I strive to exercise his resurrection power that makes me new, a creature of heaven and not of this world. I ignore things of this world that will drag me down to cringing, fearful actions and thoughts. I will not let anger seduce me, to create in me hurt and devastation. I will not be up one day and down the next day, violating the divine nature of God within me, his steadfastness. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Of course, living for Jesus, putting on his nature, is a constant challenge for all of us. We cannot say as the Israelites said so many centuries ago: "We will do it." We will be good. We will please you, God, at all times. No, we cannot even come close to God's nature in our flesh, but what we can do through Bible reading, prayer, and meditation, is renew our minds daily. We can display God by loving others, by being sensitive to God's words and his divine instruction inside of us. We are his hands, we are his feet. GOD LIVES, HE LIVES IN US. HE LOVES THE WORLD. WE ARE TO LOVE AS HE LOVES. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. This we will do by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we know: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6)
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