We are going through Philippians for my mid-week ladies Bible study and it has been so eye opening and instructive for me. I know many verses from Philippians, but through this study I have been placing them all together in context and have been learning so much more from them. Philippians 3 is a rich chapter, with many deep verses, but I have realized that I so often overlook one important verse that should be foundational for our lives.
In Philippians 3:15 Paul exhorts his listeners “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.”
OK, what mind? Well, let’s go back to the prior verses and see.
Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 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.”
Maturity. Isn’t that what every Christian desires? Don’t we all want to be seen as a mature Christian, to have others describe us as such? According to 3:15, pressing on is a sign of maturity!
You mean it’s not how many Bible verses I know or how vibrant my spiritual gifts are or how pious I can look when I’m at church? No, no and no. One sign of maturity is our ability to forget the past and press on. We like to focus too much on past accomplishments or “the good old days” but we are clearly instructed to press on.
As I got to thinking about this issue I realized how weak some of us are as Christians in today’s culture. Rather than make the effort to press on, to keep growing in maturity, we would rather rely on how good we used to be, how closely we followed the Lord back then, or how much Scripture we memorized in Awana years ago. Pressing on requires work and we don’t like work. We’re living in an age of grace, and like to slap that word onto everything including our laziness.
So what does pressing on look like in my everyday life? A few reflective questions:
Am I forgiving? Do I harbor bitterness for a past wrong that was committed against me? Do I keep a “record of wrongs” against my husband or kids?
Am I blooming where I’ve been planted? This issue is a really difficult one because my husband pastors a “transient church”. Many people come and go within a year’s time due to assignments with the military and government. We get people from all sorts of backgrounds and many of them compare of us to their ‘previous’ church. While this is not always a bad thing, we have to explain that we are not their previous church and that the Lord has called us to serve in this city in this way. I am learning not to take this personally, but it is also causing me to see that occasionally the people that do this are not the mature Christians that they talk themselves up to be. If they have been called to this city and this body, then they are to “press on”, don’t cling too tightly to what God was doing there but rather start embracing what He is doing here and start walking in those “good works which God has before ordained that they should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10)”
Do I re-live conversations and focus on what I should have said or what I’ll say next time? Do I get caught up and terribly concerned that my friend took what I said the wrong way and need to call her immediately and make sure she understood what I really meant? No, I need to press on. Satan would have me to focus on my past and failures but Jesus would have me to forget those things and press on.
We should be content in Jesus, but never with ourselves. We all need to press on, no matter how long we have been walking with Him, no matter how much we have served Him, no matter how much our circumstances have changed.
In one sense, our relationship with Christ is all about the past – the past sin that He has wiped out, the past life that He has changed, and the past ways in which He has grown us and used us, but it is also very much about the present – what does God want to do in and through us today as we press on toward maturity?
In Philippians 3:15 Paul exhorts his listeners “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.”
OK, what mind? Well, let’s go back to the prior verses and see.
Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 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.”
Maturity. Isn’t that what every Christian desires? Don’t we all want to be seen as a mature Christian, to have others describe us as such? According to 3:15, pressing on is a sign of maturity!
You mean it’s not how many Bible verses I know or how vibrant my spiritual gifts are or how pious I can look when I’m at church? No, no and no. One sign of maturity is our ability to forget the past and press on. We like to focus too much on past accomplishments or “the good old days” but we are clearly instructed to press on.
As I got to thinking about this issue I realized how weak some of us are as Christians in today’s culture. Rather than make the effort to press on, to keep growing in maturity, we would rather rely on how good we used to be, how closely we followed the Lord back then, or how much Scripture we memorized in Awana years ago. Pressing on requires work and we don’t like work. We’re living in an age of grace, and like to slap that word onto everything including our laziness.
So what does pressing on look like in my everyday life? A few reflective questions:
Am I forgiving? Do I harbor bitterness for a past wrong that was committed against me? Do I keep a “record of wrongs” against my husband or kids?
Am I blooming where I’ve been planted? This issue is a really difficult one because my husband pastors a “transient church”. Many people come and go within a year’s time due to assignments with the military and government. We get people from all sorts of backgrounds and many of them compare of us to their ‘previous’ church. While this is not always a bad thing, we have to explain that we are not their previous church and that the Lord has called us to serve in this city in this way. I am learning not to take this personally, but it is also causing me to see that occasionally the people that do this are not the mature Christians that they talk themselves up to be. If they have been called to this city and this body, then they are to “press on”, don’t cling too tightly to what God was doing there but rather start embracing what He is doing here and start walking in those “good works which God has before ordained that they should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10)”
Do I re-live conversations and focus on what I should have said or what I’ll say next time? Do I get caught up and terribly concerned that my friend took what I said the wrong way and need to call her immediately and make sure she understood what I really meant? No, I need to press on. Satan would have me to focus on my past and failures but Jesus would have me to forget those things and press on.
We should be content in Jesus, but never with ourselves. We all need to press on, no matter how long we have been walking with Him, no matter how much we have served Him, no matter how much our circumstances have changed.
In one sense, our relationship with Christ is all about the past – the past sin that He has wiped out, the past life that He has changed, and the past ways in which He has grown us and used us, but it is also very much about the present – what does God want to do in and through us today as we press on toward maturity?
Thank you Mady! Through the r12 study I came across a similar theme. To clear our minds & stop dwelling on past things, hurts, etc. To forgive these acts and those who did them. I need my mind to be free to worhsip, trust and obey. Lord - renew my/our mind(s) and give us a freshness in you!
ReplyDelete-Elizabeth