13 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Here is Paul the Apostle talking about his spiritual journey. He says that he has not arrived. So many of us want to arrive at spiritual maturity, we want to finish our journey, because we want the struggles to stop. But the Christian life is about the journey. We will never arrive in this life. We will never be completely mature. We will always have some struggles in our life. Paul could have looked back at his past and stayed totally paralyzed in guilt for having killed Christians. It could have stopped him from moving forward. But instead, he considered it part of his past and he moved on to a new future. He says that he is straining toward the finish line. I love watching the slow motion videos of Olympic runners pushing toward the finish line, especially their push during the last few feet and inches. They are straining toward the prize. They want to arrive at the finish line ahead of everyone else. They want to break their own records. They are never satisfied until they are at the top, and even then they want to do better. This is the picture of Paul’s push toward God’s goal for his life. Are we pushing toward that goal, or are we on a downward, gentile slide toward heaven? Paul was pushing toward the goal. God has a purpose for our lives. It is part of His eternal purpose for each of us. He wants us to join Him in heaven. He wants to bless us with Garden of Eden blessings. But we must push past the failings of the past and move forward toward God’s best. Are you straining in your walk with Christ? Are you pushing hard to draw in close to Him?
The Arnold Journey 