Press On toward the Goal

 December 16, 2024

Monday

Philippians 3:14 (ESV) ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

There is a lot of talk of people being distracted. They are distracted by their cell phones while they drive. People pick up their cell phones the moment they are stopped at a light to check their messages. People try to text as they drive. They browse the internet while at work. They miss their children's ball games to win the approval of those at work. Are they simply distracted by their cell phones, computers and work? I don't think they are distracted so much as they lack focus.

Once you have lost your focus, anything else will take your attention. Those who forgot that their focus should be arriving at their destination safely can text all the way where they are going. Those who forget why they are at work, can use any unsupervised moment for personal reasons.

The Christian life should be focused on being a disciple of Jesus and making disciples for Jesus. It can't focus on entertaining the members of the church. It can't focus on pleasing the members of the church. It can't focus on feeding the members of the church. It can't focus on anything but discipleship.

One of the problems with this is churches will spend an untold amount of money to advertise and make themselves look attractive without making any disciples. Many pastors would be content to have ten thousand in attendance but not make even one disciple. They have lost their focus.

On the other hand, many Christians don't know what a disciple is. They think that a disciple is simply someone who claims Jesus as Savior and attends church more than others. They can't imagine taking up their crosses daily because they have no idea what that is. The same is true for loving others, forgiving, knowing God's word and obeying God's word. They are scared of those who say that God speaks to them for they have never had that experience. They come to church to hear an uplifting message. They love to be with people who are just like them.

We all must focus on the Lord. We must all focus on obeying Him. We must all focus on what it is to be a disciple. We must all focus on making disciples for Him. We should do this with such force that we "press on. toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God."