In Philippians 3:13-14 Paul writes about his goals, setting himself as an example. Paul was not complacent, and we shouldn’t be either. Instead of smugness Paul knew a sanctified ambition, and he threw himself eagerly into the race that God had set before him. Paul says that he had learned to press ahead in three ways. First, he forgets those things that are behind. Second, he looks forward to those things that are ahead. Third, he presses on toward the mark of the prize of God’s calling. In Paul’s mind there was a sanctified forgetting, a sanctified looking ahead, and a sanctified striving for that to which God had called him.

In the first place, Paul says that he forgets those things that are behind. What are they? It’s the kind of forgetting that occurs when we cease to let things that are in the past overshadow the present, that lets the past be past, both the good and the bad, and that constantly looks forward to the work that God still has for us. This does not mean, of course, that we are not to be thankful for past blessings. But if your Christian testimony is entirely taken up with what God did for you thirty or forty years ago, or if you are constantly talking about the good old days when God’s blessing on your life seemed great, then you are looking to the past. You can never do that and move forward. Someone described old age as the point in life when a person ceases to look forward and always looks backward. If that is accurate, then there are certainly a lot of old Christians – and I don’t mean in terms of their years. They are living in the past, and Paul warns against it. Past blessing are fine. We have received them from God’s hands, and we should be thankful for them. We rejoice in everything that He has done in our lives. But now we must let those things lie in the past and move forward. There can be no progress without this proper forgetting.

The second thing that Paul claims to have done is to have fixed his gaze on the many things that God would yet be doing. Paul’s sense of the Lord’s leading was always linked to his awareness of open doors. Paul expected the Lord to open doors, and when He did, Paul went through them instantly. Through those doors Paul was constantly striving toward those things that were ahead. We should awake in the morning to say, “Lord, here is a new day that you have given me. I know that there are new things to be done and new lessons to be learned. Help me to use this day as well as I possibly can – to raise my children properly, to do well at my job, to help my neighbor.” And when we go to bed that night we can pray, “Lord, I have not done anything today as well as I should have, and I missed many of your blessings. But thank you for being with me. Help me now to place today’s experiences behind and rest well so that I may serve you better tomorrow.” God will do it, for He is anxious to lead us onward in our experience and our service for Him.

There is a third point to Paul’s statement in these verses. The life of Paul wishes to live involves not only a forgetting of the past and looking forward to the things that lie ahead. It also involves a striving for these things. This involves perseverance, discipline, and concentration. If we are really to engage in that great struggle for God’s best that Paul is speaking about, we must also be prepared for vigorous spiritual conflict; for our striving is not only against ourselves or our circumstances but against the spiritual forces of this world that seek to hinder us. Paul calls them principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world. If you want an easy time as a Christian, all you have to do is to get far away from Jesus Christ – move away to the periphery of the battle. Satan isn’t going to bother you much out there because that is where he wants you. However, if you draw close to the Lord, as Paul wished to do, and join with him in the battle, then you will find it necessary to use God’s weapons for the conflict. All too often Christians arm themselves with the weapons of the world (wisdom, self-confidence, financial security, success, and popularity) instead of God’s Armor (truth, righteousness, and the gospel, faith, salvation, and the Word of God, see Ephesians 6).

We engage in the battles of the Christian life that result from our striving for the victories that God sets before us, we can take confidence in the fact that the victory of Jesus Christ has already guaranteed the outcome. By His death and resurrection Jesus Christ decisively defeated Satan and the forces of darkness, and we now advance under His banner to enforce His conquest. We are to wear His weapons. As we go we are to echo Paul’s challenge in Philippians 3:13-14.

Philippians 3:13-14 Reflection Questions:

Have you lost your vision for God’s future blessing on your life?

Have you ceased to work hard in His service?

Do you concentrate on the Christian life, or is your mind filled with the things of this world?

Do you fix your mind on the things God has for you, or do the temporary, passing and insignificant things of this world crowd out the lasting, eternal things?