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Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We're in our look at Philippians chapter
3 together. We're going to look at verses 12 to 14 today, day 4 in this look
through this chapter of our five-day look at Philippians chapter 3.

We looked the last three days at how to have joy in your accomplishments, and
there were some pretty deep verses that Paul had to share with us about how you
can look to the things that you've done in your life in an entirely different
way. As we turn the corner a little bit and begin to look at verse 12, verses 12
to 31 of Philippians 3, begin to talk about the future, joy in your future. Joy
is in the way that you look back at the accomplishments of your past, but joy is
also found in the way that you look forward to the events in your future.

If you asked a lot of people their attitude toward the future, it would either
be apathy or anxiety. Either, "Well, I don't think about it very much," or, "I
worry about it too much. " It's something we all face.

C. S. Lewis once said, "The future is something which everyone reaches at the
rate of 60 minutes an hour.

" Whatever he does, whoever she is. So we're all heading towards the future, and
the truth of the matter is a lot of us are worried about the future. A lot of us
are anxious about the future, and Paul says you don't have to let that steal
your joy.

You can have a different attitude toward the future. Let me read for you verses
12 to 14 of Philippians 3. "Not," he says, "that I have already obtained all of
this, all the knowing Christ that we talked about yesterday, the fellowship of
his sufferings and the life that comes from his resurrection.

" Paul says, "Not that I've already obtained all of this or have already been
made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took
hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but
one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I
press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward
in Christ Jesus.

I press on. " Those are words that look toward the future. These are words that
talk about doing away with the fear of being complacent in our lives, becoming
the kind of person who rests on your laurels.

These are verses that talk about how you become the kind of person that lives
for tomorrow. And as Paul pictures our attitude toward the future, he uses a
picture he often uses in the New Testament. He says, "Picture it as a race.

" And he says, "As you run this race," well, he talks about three holy ways to
run this race. He talks about holy dissatisfaction, a holy goal, and a holy
commitment. "Run the race," he says, "with a holy dissatisfaction.

" "Run with dissatisfaction," he says, when he says, "I have not obtained it
yet. I haven't yet become perfect. I haven't yet taken a hold of it.

There's nothing that I can do to earn my salvation. " So you don't run with
dissatisfaction feeling like I'm not going to ever have a relationship with God.
Once you've started a relationship with Christ, that's guaranteed.

The fact that Jesus Christ has come into your life, you're never going to lose
that salvation. Paul says, "I run with dissatisfaction. " And he's saying, "I've
not obtained it yet.

I've not yet become perfect. I haven't yet taken a hold of it. " He's talking
about this holy dissatisfaction, which says, "I don't think that God has somehow
allowed me to gain the gift of salvation on my own.

In fact, I know it's only from Christ. So that's not my dissatisfaction. The
dissatisfaction I have is that there is always more to enjoy in the gift that
God has given to me.

And I'm not going to be satisfied with anything less than all that Jesus saved
me for. I may not reach it in this life, but I'm not going to end this life
feeling like, well, years ago I became satisfied and stopped growing. " So Paul
says, "I'm going to put everything that I can into growing to be all that God
has made me to be.

" It's not like God saves you and then somehow you just sort of sit back and
relax and it's all up to him to do. Sometimes the picture I would give is
salvation is we need to be rescued. We're on a ledge.

We're about to fall to our death and we're throwing a rope on that ledge by
someone. In salvation, God threw us a rope on that ledge and we grabbed the rope
and he saved us. But if we say, "Okay, God, you saved me.

Now, can you do all the work and pull me up all the way? " Obviously, God has
the strength to do that. He could do it.

But God says, "No, I've allowed you to be involved in that. I'm going to do an
awful lot of the pulling, but I also have some climbing for you to do. You get
involved in this.

" Now, 99. 99% of the strength, even more than that, is God's, but he's allowed
us to be involved. We're not talking here about sinless perfection, me becoming
perfect in this world.

We're talking about growing towards the maturity that Jesus saved us for. Paul's
reminding us here that whenever you meet someone or you talk to someone who acts
like they have arrived, they have it all together, realize that they are saying
they're way ahead of the apostle Paul spiritually. Paul said, "I haven't arrived
yet.

I certainly haven't arrived yet. Neither have you. " And so you grow in faith by
trusting in him.

You have this holy dissatisfaction. You also have, Paul says, a holy goal. You
run with a goal.

He says, "I'm running to win the prize. " You enjoy the journey, obviously, but
you realize that there is a destination. There are some people who say, "Oh,
it's just about the journey.

" Paul says, "Not for me. I am running to win the prize. There is a goal out in
front of me.

I'm running for all that God saved me for. " So you enjoy what God's doing in
your life today, but you realize he has a destination. And that destination is
caught up in the third holy thing we run with.

We run with a holy commitment. We run to win. Brothers, he says, "I don't
consider myself to have yet taken hold of it," in verse 13, "but one thing I do,
forgetting what's behind, straining to what's ahead, I press on towards the goal
to win the prize.

" Forgetting what's behind. How do you do that? I mean, our brains are capable
of cataloging 80 memories a second for 75 years.

We've got this permanent filing system. How in the world do we forget? Well, you
break the power of the past.

You may not be able to forget every event that happened, but he's talking here
about breaking the power of your past by living for the future. We've got to
forget past griefs and past guilts. We also have to forget past glories, great
things that maybe we have done by living for the future, pressing on towards the
goal to win the prize for which God has called me.

We need a clear commitment. We run to win. Why would you run if you're not
running to win?

Now, let me remind you, the win is not your glory. It's God's glory. It's not
about honoring you.

It's about honoring him and what he made you for. And Paul says, "Because I have
that heart to honor God. I am pressing on.

" He talks about the kind of commitment that he has here. In fact, four phrases
remind me of that kind of commitment. Paul says, "One thing I do.

" He had a singular commitment. He had the clarifying unity of a single
priority. I often look at my days and say, "These are 100 things I must do.

" And then I wonder why I feel pressured. Paul says, "This one thing I do. " We
need the unity of that priority of our love for Jesus Christ in order to run
with a holy commitment.

The second phrase is, he says, "I run to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus
laid hold of me. " He had a visionary commitment, and the vision wasn't based on
what he could do. Paul's commitment was brought to light by the understanding of
Christ's vision for his life.

Listen, God has a specific purpose for you. He laid hold of you for something.
God says, "I want you to play this position on my team.

I've got a purpose for your life. " You may not see it yet. You may not be
experiencing it right now, but I laid hold of you for something.

Never forget that. It's a visionary commitment. As Paul talks about commitment,
it's also an energetic commitment.

He says, "I'm straining toward what is ahead. I'm striving. I'm reaching
forward.

" These literally have the idea of stretching out on a sprint. The sprinter who
would at the very end stretch out to hit the tape at the end of the race. All
their effort put into that one moment.

You know, it's okay to get tired living out your commitment to Jesus Christ. Not
pressured, but tired. Pressure comes when I feel frozen.

I don't know what to do next because I'm unsure of my commitment. Tiredness
comes when I'm so certain of my commitment that I'm willing to give it my all.
Paul says that's okay.

Take a break after the race before the next one. God understands you're a human
being, but then when you get in the next race, give it your all. Why run a race
if you're not going to give it your all?

Energetic commitment. Then he talks about this phrase for which God has called
me heavenward in Christ Jesus. It's a called commitment.

He uses the phrase the upward call of God. That phrase could mean upwards call
of God where it originated. It came from upwards from God.

It's a phrase that could mean where God reigns, the upwards call of God, the
reigning call of God. Or it's a phrase that could mean the direction that it's
going to take my life as a Christian. It's going to lead me upwards to faith
with Christ and to a relationship with him for all eternity in heaven.

Paul talks about this call of God. For Paul, commitment was not some impersonal
exercise written down on a paper. It was personal.

It was a personally given goal from God who loved him. When I boil it all down,
commitment is not motivated by statistics over the desire for achievement. That
might last for a little while, but it only lasts for a little while.

The truth is when it comes to commitment and running with commitment, I have to
realize someone else is involved. I am not running alone. Paul says, I'm doing
this all because of my love for my Father in heaven and his love for me.

And because of that, he was able to run with this holy dissatisfaction with a
holy goal and a holy commitment. I want to run that way. I would guess that you
want to run that way.

Let's ask God for strength to run the race today. Father, when we run the race,
sometimes we get tired and we need you to strengthen us and to help us to
realize that we're running it for you, not for ourselves. When we get caught up
in running for ourselves, we get discouraged and we get lonely.

But when we run for you, although we get tired, we always know that you're
there. We know that we're not alone. And I pray now that you would help us to
run with commitment.

One thing I do, to lay hold of that Jesus for which you lay hold of me,
straining toward what's ahead, realizing that it's what you called me to do.
Jesus, thank you. Thank you that you gave me a life to live that's worth living.

And although I may not see it right now, my faith, I trust what you're saying in
these verses. And I pray you'd help me to see it. I commit myself to living the
life that you made me to live.

Although I may see it right now, I may be living out this life of commitment
right now. I need your strength daily. Release me from the temptation.

Protect me from the temptation to try to live it on my own. To in the middle of
the race, somehow think I can finish the race on my own. I need you, Jesus,
today.

Help me to run the race, relying on you today. I ask this in your name. Amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to take a look together at Philippians chapter three, the
end of the chapter, verses 15 to 21.