In Philippians 3:12-16, Paul showed us how to maintain joy and win in the Christian life. First of all, you need a healthy discontent with your present situation. Think about this: every worthwhile achievement in life begins with a sense of discontent. You\u2019re not happy with the way things are. That is also true of your spiritual life. If you\u2019re going to succeed in your relationship with God, you refuse to be satisfied with where you are.<\/p>\n
Now, the Bible says there are some things we ought to always be content with. We ought to be content with our circumstances. Paul said in Philippians 4:11, \u201cI have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.\u201d We ought to be content when our basic needs are met. Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:8, \u201cIf we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.\u201d But there is one thing you and I should never be content with, and that is our relationship with God. Regarding his own relationship with God, Paul said, \u201cNot that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus\u201d (Philippians 3:12).<\/p>\n
The false teachers in the Philippian church were saying, \u201cWe have arrived.\u201d But Paul said, \u201cNot me. I have not already obtained it. But I press on.\u201d The Greek word used for \u201cpress on\u201d refers to an athletic contest, most likely a foot race. In the ancient Greek races, contestants would come out in a minimum of clothing so they wouldn\u2019t be slowed down, and they would stand in their running lanes. At the start of each lane were stones with grooves in them. The runner would place his foot against that groove and reach forward, straining with every fiber of his being, waiting for the beginning of the race. That\u2019s the phrase Paul used here. He said, \u201cI press on.\u201d Why? \u201cSo that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.\u201d This is an interesting play on words. Paul was saying, \u201cI want to lay hold of that for which I was laid hold.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you are a Christian, your salvation did not begin with you. You didn\u2019t wake up one day and say, \u201cYou know what? I think I\u2019ll lay hold of God today.\u201d No, your salvation began with God. God took the initiative. Salvation is not us reaching up and grabbing hold of God. Salvation is God reaching down and grabbing hold of us. John wrote, \u201cIn this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins\u201d (1 John 4:10). Paul never got over the fact that God reached down and laid hold of his life for one reason: that he might achieve his purpose of becoming like Jesus.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re going to succeed in the Christian life and live above your circumstances, you need to start with a case of discontent with your present situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Philippians 3:12-16, Paul showed us how to maintain joy and win in the Christian life. First of all, you need a healthy discontent with your present situation. Think about this: every worthwhile achievement in life begins with a sense of discontent. You\u2019re not happy with the way things are. That is also true of … Continue reading “16.v. Some very good thoughts by Pathway to Victory”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104122"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104125,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104122\/revisions\/104125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}