What motivates you?

"Not that I have already obtained all 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" (Phil 3:12-14) NIV


Like the rest of us Paul had a life before Jesus Christ became the focus. For Paul, he had a prideful pedigree of education and accomplishment to recall. He also could recall overseeing the brutal beatings of Christians simply for believing that the Messiah had come in the flesh. I think he wrote this passage in Philippians because he knew the power of the past to draw us away from the pursuit of Christ. We can be tempted to think highly of our former accomplishments or to be tormented by depth of our depravity. Neither serves us well in keeping our focus on the future.

So what motivates to us to “keep up the good fight” (2Tim 4:7) as Paul did until the end? While the darkness of our past can be a reminder of the grace of God, it fails to motivate us consistently in moving forward. A person is best motivated by a vision of his future that reaches beyond the failures of his past. If we focus on the failures, our new life is based on a platform of guilt and shame. We can’t simply overcome the guilt of our past with new works. That system leaves us under the law as before salvation (Rom 4:2). Jesus offers something better than redemptive works to make up for our past. He offers us new life that is based on grace, not works (Eph 2:8-9).

The “straining” toward the goal is rooted in keeping my mind on Christ, not on my past accomplishments/failures. The person I was is not who I am (2Cor 5:17). Jesus has a vision and a destiny for my life that goes beyond my imagination. He has one for you as well. As we receive His forgiveness and grace and stay focused on Jesus, He reveals the prize..