I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14
It has been rightly said, “If you aim at nothing in life, that’s exactly what you will hit.” But this should not be so among believers. Yet I see more and more believers ‘lowering their sights’ in order to achieve worldly targets that perish, rather than ‘going for gold’ which is of heavenly and eternal value.
The apostle Paul lived with an eschatological goal in view which he considered to be of utmost importance in his everyday living. He longed for and worked at becoming conformed to the person of Jesus Christ. He understood that this perfect state would not be his while sin was still present in his flesh (Rom. 7:24) but that future, perfect reality would one day be his in Jesus Christ. He lived in the light of this eschatological reality, disciplining himself so that he was constantly training for a future reigning with Christ. He could sum up his philosophy of living with these words “...forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead” (Phil. 3:13).
What’s your philosophy for living? What are your ‘sights set on’ - the perishable or imperishable? I like how Richard Baxter, the Puritan, put it:
This life was not intended to be the place of our perfection, but the preparation for it.