Are You Pressing Toward the Mark?

Philippians 3:12-14 calls us to a race with an eternal prize. Are you running? We haven’t yet attained perfection or our resurrected bodies, but we can press forward because we have a steadfast hope of glory in Christ (Php 3:12; 2Ti 1:12). The goal is to seize the purpose for which Christ saved us—to serve Him and know Him deeply: His righteousness, resurrection power, sufferings, and death (Php 3:10; Eph 1:19-20). Knowing Christ is so excellent that when we learn and experience that knowledge, all else becomes “dung” in comparison (Php 3:8; 2Co 4:3-7).

This pursuit requires focus: forgetting the past and reaching for what’s ahead (Php 3:13).

What’s behind you? Do your fleshly achievements define you? Are your failures keeping you stuck in a cycle of self-pity and guilt? Are there grudges that keep you bitter, angry, and that weigh you down? None of those things matter: that flesh is crucified and no longer defines you. You are something entirely new in Christ: a member of His Body that is infinitely loved (Php 3:7; 2Co 5:16-17). Knowing Christ’s surpassing worth means letting go of the worldly pursuits that distract us from who we are in Christ (1Ti 6:8-12).

Instead, we press toward the mark with urgency, a concerted effort to know Christ more, sacrificing apathy and worldly lusts for the pursuit of something far greater (Php 3:14). The prize? The high calling of God in Christ, our glorified position in Him, not fleeting earthly gain (Eph 1:17-18; 2Ti 1:9).

What are you pressing toward? Fleshly ambitions or the excellency of Christ? Knowing Him transforms everything—your identity, purpose, and hope (Col 3:1-3). Don’t settle for the temporary. Run hard after Christ, the only prize that lasts (1Co 9:24-27).