In 1949 a college student, Elliot,  penned these words,  He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose’. seven years later on the Curaray River deep in Ecuadors  rain forest, the awaited the arrival of a group of men know as the Aucas who they were trying to witness to, Jim Elliot and four other young men with him were killed by those they went to witness to. God has to narrow ones vision until it is clearly focused.

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!  Kipling

The Apostle Paul says, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect:”—that is, “mature”—“but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:”—that is, “I haven’t arrived yet”—“but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12–14)

So far as his acceptance with God is concerned a Christian is complete in Christ as soon as he believes. Those who have trusted themselves in the hands of the Lord Jesus are saved: and they may enjoy holy confidence upon the matter, for they have a divine warrant for so doing. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” To this salvation the apostle had attained. But while the work of Christ for us is perfect, and it were presumption to think of adding to it, the work of the Holy Spirit in us is not perfect, it is continually carried on from day to day, and will need to be continued throughout the whole of our lives. We are being “conformed to the image of Christ,” and that process is in operation, as we advance towards glory. The condition in which a believer should always be found is that of progress: his motto must be, “Onward and upward!”

The progressing  Christian is compared to a warrior, a wrestler, a competitor in the games: these figures are the very opposite of a condition in which nothing more is to be done. They imply energy, the gathering up of strength, and the concentration of forces, in order to the overthrowing of adversaries.

The Christian is also likened to a runner in a race. It is clear that a man cannot be a runner who merely holds his ground, contented with his position: he only runs aright who each moment nears the mark. Progress is the healthy condition of every Christian

Assess Where You Are Now, and Where You Want to Be

There was a deep dissatisfaction in Paul’s life. And Paul had already achieved much. There was a lot of spiritual attainment in his life; but Paul had a dissatisfaction with himself

He says, “I count,” as if he had taken stock, had made a careful estimate, and had come to a conclusion.

You can reach self-complacency by a great many roads. I have known enthusiasts reach it by sheer intoxication of excitement, while Antinomians come at it by imagining that the law is abolished, and that what is sin in others is not sin in saints. There are theories which afford an evil peace to the mind by throwing all blame of sin upon fate, and others which lower the standard of God’s demands so as to make them reachable by fallen humanity. Some dream that

a mere dead faith in Jesus will save them, let them live as they list; and others that they are already as good as need be.

What is it, at bottom, that makes men contented with themselves? It may be, first of all, a forgetfulness of the awful holiness of the law of God.

We say that Columbus discovered America: he did, but there are hundreds of unnamed lakes in Canada. You see, he just touched on America: there was so much more

One Thing Focus

But this one thing I do this one thing I do. (Philippians 3:12–13)

He doesn’t stop for a while and join the cheerleaders. He doesn’t go up in the stands and sell popcorn. He says, “This one thing I do.”

Jesus said? “No man can serve two masters.” (Matthew 6:24) Do you know what James said? “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8) Do you know what Paul said? “This one thing I do.” One! That’s all! Does that seem unreasonable to you?

A river is powerful when it is concentrated; it stays within the banks. But when the river gets out of the banks, rather than being a river, it then becomes a swamp.

who spent all of his life trying to reach the top of the ladder; and finally he did, only to find out that it was leaning against the wrong wall.

You have to have the right goal. It has to be a master goal.

The Past

“Forgetting those things which are behind.” What does he mean? Paul does not mean that he forgot the mercy of God which he had enjoyed; far from it. Paul does not mean that he forgot the sins which he had committed; far from it, he would always remember them to humble him.

The only hope for the racer was to forget all that was behind, and occupy his entire thoughts with the piece of ground which lay in front.

I follow after, Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended.” (Philippians 3:12)

follow after, means to relentlessly pursue, it is the idea is of strong, positive determination. the idea of an athlete with his eye on the goal.

Press On

A Christian should always be throwing himself forward after something more than he has yet reached, not satisfied with the rate at which he advances, his soul always going at twenty times the pace of the flesh.

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”-Calvin Coolidge

 

Paul wrote Philippians in prison. But he hasn’t stopped running. Here’s this battered old preacher in prison, but he’s still running. Now there’s not much room for him to run. But he’s not running with his legs. He’s running with his heart. He is running with his soul. And you couldn’t lock him up, because he’s on a course. And if his course led him through the prison, he’d just say, “Praise the Lord.” It didn’t stop him from running.

You can always tell the size of a Christian by what it takes to stop him

I want to let go, but I won’t let go.

 

There are battles to fight,

By day and night,

For God and the right—

And I’ll never let go.

I want to let go, but I won’t let go.

I’m sick, tis true,

Worried and blue,

And worn through and through,

But I won’t let go.

I want to let go, but I won’t let go.

I will never yield!

What? Lie down on the field

And surrender my shield?

No, I’ll never let go!

I want to let go, but I won’t let go.

May this be my song:

“Mid legions of wrong—

Oh, God, keep me strong

That I may never let go!”

—AUTHOR UNKNOWN

 There is a Goal

 I press toward the mark. Every athlete, when he runs, runs toward a goal. You must put your eye on the goal, and you must keep it there.

A grave at the foot of the Alps where a mountain climber had fallen from one of the sheer mountain faces, the rock faces of one of those mountains, and plunged to his death. He loved the mountains so much they buried him at the base of one of those mountains. But they put this epitaph on his tombstone right there at the base of the Alps: “He died climbing”

Salvation is not a prize that you win at the end of the race; salvation is the gift that enables you to run the race. Jesus puts you into the race when He saves you.