Monday Morning Minute

Ok...so I know it's not morning, but I hope to have a little nugget each Monday morning to start your week of right.

So here goes....

This morning I was reading in Having a Mary Spirit by Joanna Weaver (a follow-up to the wildly successful Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World) and she brought up a scripture that a lot of us are familiar with: Philippians 3:12-14. And as I read the passage, I came across something I had never remembered reading before.

In this letter to the church at Philippi, Paul is writing a thank you letter to them for their support and also using this opportunity to pass along some wisdom.

When we come to chapter 3: 12-14, we read the familiar:


....butI press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me....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.

And at that, we all say "YES" and "AMEN!" Because we are all on this road straining toward the prize.

But, how often do we question God's ability to work through us when his plan is different from out own? Or do we let sin take our eye off the prize and allow that moment of failure to be a roadblock, rather than a stepping stone?

You see, when I read that scripture this morning, there is a Part A to verse 12 that we rarely hear repeated when this passage is quoted. It goes like this:

...Not that I have obtained all this [this being the power of Christ's ressurrection and fellowship in his suffering-vs 10], or have already been made perfect....

Three little letters: N-O-T. Not.

We have not obtained all Christ as for us, and probably will not this side of heaven.

We have not already been made perfect.

And because of these "nots," we do as verses 12 & 14 tell us do to: WE PRESS ON; exchanging our need for answers for childlike faith in a Heavenly Father who wants the best for us and dropping our need for perfection and picking up grace and forgiveness.

Press On. Not toward perfection, but rather to the person that God has called you to be through Him and through the power He has given you as a Child of God.