In His Name Devotionals
OUR MAIN OBJECTIVE IN LIFE
In His Name Devotionals
OUR MAIN OBJECTIVE IN LIFE
“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14)
Paul illustrated his main objective in life by the athletic contests of the day. The runner had only one thing in mind—to win the race, and receive the crown. Maybe, Paul liked sports and that is why he uses the runner as an example. Paul must have been concerned with his physical health and wanted to be physically fit in order to do the work of the Lord. Christians must have this kind of objective in life. We are to set out mind on what is our priority in life (Matthew 8:33).
Paul had an attitude to do one thing at a time, and this one thing was the only one he had in mind to do (Philippians 3:13). Paul reaches forth with strong exertions like a runner in the race. He was running in this world in order to reach heaven for eternal life. In reaching forth, he forgot what was behind, reaching out to what was ahead. All opportunities lie before us, and we must go onward no matter what, to obtain our objective in life—eternal life. We all need to go forward because God wants us to (2 Peter 3:18).
Our main objective must be to press toward the mark. We should not run outside the line, nor stay off the course that we may not be disqualified. Our run must not be hindered by any obstacles (trials, suffering, persecutions, etc.) in our life. In running for our goal, we need to lay aside all excess weigh-sins. We must always abide in the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 John 9) in order to receive the crown of life. If we fail to observe the rules of the race we will not reach the finish line. Like Paul, we must always keep our eyes on our objective, which is our Lord Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2). If we do not keep the goal in view, we will not know the direction we are running.
We must keep our main objective in life, like Paul.
