January 22, 2023: Philippians 3:13-14 - Let Us Press Toward Jesus Christ

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 3:13-14

The goal of any runner in a race is to win the prize, and to look back during a race will slow you down. Hannah Hartzell wrote in her March 14, 2018 article titled, “The Problem With Looking Over Your Shoulder During A Race” in womensrunning.com (see: https://www.womensrunning.com/training/road/problem-looking-over-shoulder-during-race/):

“I’m nowhere near Olympic-caliber, but I’ve run enough races to know why, in 99 percent of racing situations, looking back is not a smart idea. Why? Because it signals a negative shift in the mindset of an athlete. When a runner looks backwards, it is typically because they are afraid someone is catching up with them. They are no longer running to win: they’re running to avoid losing.

But we’ve all been there, right? The legs that propelled you through the first part of the race begin to tire. You start contemplating a convenient collapse near a water station. Your mind imagines your legs turning to jelly and all the runners passing you. That’s when fear sets in. So you look back—just to make sure you have enough distance on the chase pack, just to bolster your confidence.

What seems like a minor choice can actually have a huge impact on the rest of your race. Think about it: If you look back and see a runner closing in on you, your confidence will be shaken. On the flip side, if you look back and see no one, it might provide momentary comfort, but you’ll soon feel even more paranoid. You’ll want to keep looking back. Your mind will increasingly focus on how to avoid losing instead of how to win.”

The same can be said of Christians, those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, as we run our own race, our race of faith. Looking back instead of forward will take our mind off of Jesus, our prize, and on the things which have happened already, the things we cannot change. Remember when two angels went to Sodom to rescue Lot and his family? What did they tell Lot and his family when it was morning and time to leave before God rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, two vile and wicked cities? They had taken Lot’s, his wife’s, and his two daughters’ hands and brought them outside of Sodom and then they told them, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” Then God rained fire and brimstone on those cities, but instead of looking forward to escape what she had left behind, Lot’s wife did what she was told not to do and looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:12-26)

In a similar manner, we must keep our eyes on Jesus, never looking back, never longing for the lives we used to live. How many of us have looked back over these three years since COVID hit the world, longing for the days in which we lived our “normal” lives - in a country I would compare to Sodom and Gomorrah, or even worse - without lockdowns, healthcare mandates, business closures, food shortages, chaos, confusion, sky-high inflation, threats of a “Great Reset” by the powerful and God-rejecting leaders of the World Economic Forum, and on and on? Throughout all of this, it should be crystal clear to us that our prize is not this world; it is not the comforts that perhaps we used to have prior to March 2020. Was that fact clear to Lot’s wife as she fled that destroyed city of Sodom? No, she looked back and she lost her focus in her race, her race to escape the destruction, thus bringing her own destruction.

Proverbs 4:25 tells us, “Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil.”

Hebrews 12:1-2 beautifully describes our race of faith:

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Let us remember what this race of faith is all about, as Paul said when speaking to the Philippians when he talked about his former life as a self-righteous Jewish religious leader, a Pharisee, one who denounced Christ and persecuted those who believed in Him:

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:8-11)

Let us take heed to Paul’s words when he spoke to the Colossians and keep Christ as our priority:

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)

Let us not look back on our past and what we have left behind, but let us keep running this race of faith, strong, reaching forward and keeping our eyes fixed on the prize - Jesus - oh, sweet Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. 🙏🏻✝️