“Paul said,
"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus" Philippians 3:14.
The sincere Christian
is progressive. He never comes to his journey's end until he gets to heaven.
This keeps him always leaning into God, thankful for each little favor but not
smugly content with great measures of grace. "When I awake," said
David, "I shall be satisfied with thy likeness" Psalm 17:15. He
had enjoyed many sweet hours of communion at the house of God; and the Holy
Spirit had brought him covered dishes of which the world knew nothing. Yet
David realized he would never have enough until heaven gave him his full
portion.
When the Gauls
first tasted the wines of Italy, they were so impressed with their sweetness
that they would not just trade for this wine but resolved to conquer the whole
land which furnished the grapes! Thus the sincere Christian does not think it
is enough to receive samples of grace and comfort from heaven on special
occasions, doing long-distance business with God. No, he meditates on taking
that holy and blessed place which is the source of these riches and looks
forward to drinking the wine of the kingdom in the kingdom.
This kind of meditation raises the soul to climb nearer and
nearer heaven. The man who aims at the sky shoots higher than he who intends
only to hit a tree. Paul said, "I press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" Philippians 3:14. Other people
admired the apostle's spiritual achievements and would have been happy with
them; yet Paul would have been most unhappy had he never scaled new heights of
God's grace. He admitted that he had not apprehended what he was running for.
The prize does not appear at mid-way but at the end of the race; and Paul ran toward
it with full speed.”
Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete
Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell.
http://www.moodypublishers.com/pub_productDetail.aspx?id=41823&pid=53617
No comments:
Post a Comment