Philippians 3:12Not 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. 13Brothers, 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,

Paul is still searching. The most prominent, outspoken advocate of Christ is telling the people that he is still working towards perfection in his relationship with Christ. If Paul, who spent the last half of his life telling the world about Christ, had not learned all he could learn, and see all that could be seen of Christ by the time he wrote this letter, what does it say about us?

Folks, our work is far from done. Paul did not spend much time looking back at what he had accomplished. He was always reaching forward straining towards what was ahead. He had the attitude of yesterday was great, but what about today? This should be our attitude. Christ was not satisfied. He was forgiving, loving, healing, and changing hearts right up until He drew His last breath on the cross, and He continues that work today in each one of us. If you think you have learned all you can learn, if you think that you are done, that you have accomplished enough for Christ, then I have to tell you that you are wrong. We are not built to sit back and rest on the past accomplishments of our life. We press onward to what lies ahead. We have not attained our fullness, we still have work to do. It does not matter if you are 95 and close to drawing your last breath, or if you just found the Lord yesterday, God needs you today. HE needs you to strengthen your relationship with the Trinity, He needs you to share that with others, He needs you to continue to learn about His grace, His son’s love, and the Holy Spirit's directions.

As we head into this long weekend, resolve to run in this race of life. If you are running, run harder. If you have stopped off on the side because you are tired, go to the Lord for strength and get back in. If you think you are done, realize that it was only a check point, suit back up and get back in the race. Our past does not matter, but today does, and tomorrow will. Christ never said He was done, and we should not either.

God Bless,

Brian