S156P6 – Our good spiritual progress: soon but not yet
Phi. 3:12-16
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
My long wait until high school graduation started well before high school. I often dreamed as a child of becoming an adult and living more independently. As I made my way through high school, one thing was sure. I knew that I would graduate. There was no doubt in my mind that I would finish that race. Even though I could have just skated by, I still tried to do well. A lackluster performance would have gotten me the same diploma as anyone else, and it is not as if my grades would have kept me from walking across that stage, but my performance still mattered. The foregone conclusion of finishing that task did not quench my fire. Although graduation seemed like a sure thing, I still wanted to do well.
Paul just wrote about finding everything there is to find in Christ. He was sure he had the prize, but he did not have it all quite yet. He was sure of being perfected one day, but he was not perfect yet. He was sure of being resurrected from the dead, but that day had not yet come. Paul knew what he had gained through Christ, but that did not mean that he simply waited for everything to come. He still had work at his faith and mature and continue to change until that day. He understood the difference between the moment of justification and the process of sanctification, and his encouragement is for us to recognize that difference and let it inform how we live now.
There are two ways the Christian can live. The first way is to live like someone who has finished the race already and is merely waiting for that medal. The second way, the mature way, is like someone who is sure to finish that race but understands that it has not yet happened in time. Paul lived like the second person, and he instructs us to live that way as well. We have everything in Christ, but we are not yet perfected. Our journey is not yet over. Our work is not yet complete. Even knowing that we have a secure prize, we still must continue the race. Father, keep us from the complacency and foolishness that would have us merely wait idly for that day to come.