Today's devotion is from Philippians 3:13-14
‘Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.’
What is your priority in life?
The Apostle Paul was in prison… he was near death, yet choosing to live for the sake of his calling (Philippians 1:21-25)
Paul narrows things down to one thing… one thing that is more important than anything else in life… only one thing! This one thing ignites in him the will to live, this one thing gives him the courage to press through the pain of his sufferings. Chained, beaten, bruised, with open wounds and possibly with broken bones and on the verge of death in a dark, stinky, cold prison… Paul fights to press on by focusing on ONE THING…
What was that one thing? What was that prize? What was that HIGH CALLING of God in Christ?
Verses 8-10 answer this very important question…
“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death" - Philippians 3:8-10 (KJV)
The ONE THING is not ministry ambition… the ONE THING that Paul focuses on is 'THAT I MAY KNOW HIM!'
The Apostle Paul says very brashly that He counts ALL other things as DUNG compared to his relationship with the Lord. In Paul’s greatest moment of pain, he pushes all else aside and makes it his determined purpose to forget the sufferings of the past and press on towards the HIGHEST CALLING in life… knowing Jesus… intimacy with Jesus… a deeper relationship with Jesus!
The devil’s number one goal is to distract us so that the main thing is not the main thing anymore.
Pressures in life, goals, ambitions, cares, and circumstances are all there to compete with the ONE THING that really matters in life… OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD!
Keep the main thing the main thing today and do not allow yourself to loose focus of the one thing that really matters in life…
Keep Jesus in the center of your life and keep pursuing Him with your whole heart!