Friday, March 13th | Daily Devotion
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
“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.” –Philippians 3:13–16
TRANSCRIPTION:
Good morning. Peace be unto you, all of my Father’s children, on this incredible Friday — the close of another work week.
I pray this finds you blessed and highly favored as we bring our week of devotion to a close. Our theme has been commitment — what it looks like, what it costs, and what it produces in us when we stay the course. And I thought it fitting to close with a passage that I return to often, one I believe carries a fresh anointing within this theme of staying steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in Him.
We find it in Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, the third chapter, beginning at the 13th verse.
Paul does something beautiful here. He frames our walk with Christ as that of a track runner — a runner who is not defined by his past performances, whether those performances were victories or failures, but by his continuous forward movement. This is not a race given to the swiftest. It belongs to those who endure to the end.
What strikes me is how often we find ourselves playing the B-roll of our lives — replaying the backdrop of what has already happened — and in doing so, we miss the forward movement that is taking place right now. We cannot afford to rest on previous victories. I think about my son in those moments when he does something right once and immediately asks for his reward. And I have to explain to him: son, doing it right one time is not the goal. The goal is to develop a habit — a habitual, consistent way of operating that becomes so woven into who you are that it shapes how you move, how you think, how you breathe.
But Paul is equally clear about the other side of this. We cannot allow past failures to define our race either. When we fall short, when we miss the mark, we cannot dwell there to the point where we cannot move forward. The grace of God does not call us to rehearse our missteps — it calls us to press on.
And then there is this word: strain. Paul says he is straining forward. That is the posture of a track runner in the final meters of a race — not just running, but reaching, leaning, extending every last bit of effort toward the finish. Some of the most riveting races I have ever watched came down to a photo finish. The winner was not necessarily the one who ran the fastest the entire way — it was the one who stretched just a little further in the final moment.
Maybe that is where God has you right now. Maybe He is calling you to stretch in this season. To put in a little extra. To go the extra mile. To leave it all on the field. To do more, be more, seek more — and to strain toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Press on today, no matter what is happening on the outside. Commit yourself to moving forward. God bless you — have an incredible Friday.
📅 Coming up this weekend at CBC:
- Men’s Breakfast — Saturday morning. Fellas, tell a fella. Be in the building.
Sunday School — 9:00 AM
Morning Worship Service — 10:00 AM
We cannot wait to see you. Meet us there — beat us there. Visit cbcsomerset.org for more.