Press On
What She Said - Part 7
Barbaranne Kelly, Guest Writer
Today’s Treasure
. . . make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness
2 Peter 1:5–6
Effort. Striving. Pressing on. It seems contrary to the grace that those who are saved by faith should still be expected to give effort—or does it?
In yesterday’s devotion, we saw that when God exchanged Paul’s self-made righteousness for Christ’s righteousness it provided Paul with an insatiable desire to know Christ more and more and to grow in that righteousness. Paul’s own works of righteousness were rubbish compared to the riches of grace in Christ Jesus. Because he’d been given Christ in the graciously free gift of faith, he longed with every fiber of his being to gain Christ and be found in Him (3:8–9).
In that same vein, we’ll see in today’s passages that being assured of God’s promise to complete the good work He began in him (Phil. 1:6) provided Paul with the motive to press on toward the goal with all his might:
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12–14
Paul knows that he hasn’t yet “arrived” at the full measure of godliness to which God has called him; he isn’t yet perfect. But he presses on “because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” Because the Lord, by His sovereign initiative, has taken hold of Paul and made him His own, he is eager to reach the goal set before him. Paul knows nothing of the concept: “Let go and let God.” Rather than “coasting” because of grace, his mindset is more along the lines of, “What would you attempt if you knew you wouldn’t fail?”
This is the same motive that lies behind Peter’s exhortation in Today’s Treasure:
[God’s] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness.
2 Peter 1:3–6
When God calls us to follow Christ, He first gives us new hearts that long for the knowledge of our Savior. Once our unbelief is cast aside by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are free to follow after Jesus with all the strength that He supplies. There are still obstacles in our path, such as “indwelling sin which clings so closely” (Heb. 12:1). But God’s divine power which grants us all things that pertain to life and godliness helps us to lay our hindrances aside and “run with endurance the race set before us” (Heb. 12:1).
And what is the end goal? What is “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus?” We are called to be built up in the body of Christ:
…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
Ephesians 4:13–15
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
Are you ever discouraged in your race? Does your indwelling sin threaten to trip you up and you find yourself limping rather than running toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus? Take heart, dear Christian, for this is why Paul is writing to encourage us. Just as he knows he hasn’t yet “arrived,” he wants us to know that we haven’t either. Our hope isn’t in our own strength or wisdom, but “we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God” (1 Tim 4:10). Because our hope is set on the living God, and because Christ Jesus has made us His own, while there is still breath in our body we can continue reaching for the goal, toiling and striving, making every effort, pressing on. Because Christ Jesus has made us His own, we can know that we cannot fail.
As Paul has matured in Christ, he’s learned to think this way, and he is confident that as we grow, we’ll also learn this mature mindset—because God will reveal these things to us (3:15). So he warns us to hold true to what we have attained, encouraging us to imitate him as he imitates Christ (3:16–17). And these too are possible only because of God’s power which has granted us all things pertaining to life and godliness.
PRAYER
Father, would You be pleased to impress upon my heart and mind the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord? Grant me the insatiable desire to reach for the prize of the goal of Your upward call in Him. Give me the strength to hold true to what I have attained in Christ and the wisdom to know how. And surround me, please, with worthy examples to imitate, mature saints who long and strive for the goal, so that I may learn from and with them to run this race of faith with all my might. Amen
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Sharon W. Betters is author of Treasures of Encouragement, Treasures in Darkness, co-author of Treasures of Faith. and co-author with Susan Hunt of Aging with Grace, Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture. She is Director of Resource Development and co-founder of MARKINC.org, a non-profit organization that offers help and hope to hurting people. Sharon enjoys quality time with her husband, children, fourteen grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Contact Sharon with comments or questions at dailytreasure@markinc.org.