Click Here to Read Philippians 3:12-21

“I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion into his abundance so that I may reach the purpose for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me to make me his own.” (Phil. 3:12 TPT).  I just love this statement.  Christ Jesus laid hold of me to make me his own.  And he did that because He loves me and wants to have me for eternity.  Paul had quite an amazing encounter when Jesus came to get him.  But each of us has had something just as amazing.  We may not have had the exact same experience, but it doesn’t make it any less powerful.  When Jesus comes after us it is always very personal and we find ourselves recalling it again and again thinking, “He really does love me.  I don’t know why, I don’t understand it, but He just really loves me.  And He wants to use me for something.  He values me.  He sees good in me.  He delights in me.  He treasures me.”  And if you’re anything like me you just melt reliving that experience in your mind all over again.  I pray I never grow weary of thinking about that moment He laid hold of me and made me His own.  And like Paul, I think that memory continues to propel us forward into Him more and more so that we are never satisfied with anything less than the absolute fullness of Him. 

Of course, we will never reach this until we are united with Him in glory, but there is always more for us to attain here on earth.  I believe to the degree that we are willing to press onward toward Him is the degree of His glory we will experience here on earth.  And Paul was not about to allow his past or anything he used to pursue to get in the way of that.  This is something I think we will continue to fight against, our past life before Christ.  Why?  Because the enemy is a liar, and he loves to try to trip us up with lies about who we are.  Before his encounter, Paul was a persecutor of the church and involved in imprisoning, stoning, and even murdering innocent people because they followed Jesus.  But he saw that Jesus came to rescue him, there was a purpose for his life in serving Christ.  And if Jesus was willing to come after Paul to make him His own, then he wasn’t about to let his past life hold him back.  And neither should we.  If Jesus thought we were valuable and important enough to come and rescue, then why would we worry about anything we had done in our past?  “…I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead.”  (Phil. 3:13 TPT).  So, when the liar tries to consume us with thoughts that say we aren’t worthy to walk with Jesus or be used of God because of our past we can look him right in the eye and say, “Jesus disagrees; He came and got me, and He made me worthy!”      

People will also try to remind us of our past and hold us back from pursuing our purpose in Christ.  This isn’t because they don’t see the transformation in us, it is actually because they do.  But because they haven’t chosen to accept Jesus, they can’t experience transformation themselves.  They feel stuck and they want us to be stuck too.  Paul describes those who live by different standards as enemies of the cross: “Their god has possessed them and made them mute.  Their boast is in their shameful lifestyles and their minds are in the dirt.” (Phil. 3:19 TPT).  Truthfully, I think this describes all of us before we came to know Christ.  Some people will be inspired by our transformation, and some people will be offended by it and try to keep us stuck in our past.  We need to be able to accept what Jesus says about us and pursue that only, regardless of what anyone else may say or think.  His opinion is the only one that really matters.  And He thought you and I were worth dying for.

Paul distinguishes us as a colony of heaven here on earth.  I like the Amplified Translation of this verse: “But (we are different, because) our citizenship is in heaven.  And from there we eagerly await (the coming of) the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself, will (not only) transform (but completely refashion) our earthly bodies so that they will be like His glorious resurrected body.” (Phil. 3:20-21 AMP).  Those who don’t accept the call of Jesus live only for the temporal things of this earth.  But this is what those of us who choose to answer His call get to live for.  We now live a life that represents heaven (which we are now already citizens of) and pursue the day when our transformation is complete, and we are in the fullness of his glory.  The Passion Translation of verse 21 says, “who will transform our humble bodies and transfigure us into the identical likeness of his glorified body.”  That is our heavenly prize.  That is what made Paul able to look past his suffering.  Jesus came and recruited him and commissioned him to preach the gospel to all he could.  And his reward was to be transfigured into the identical likeness of Jesus.  It is the same with us.  Jesus has called us to be his own, and He commissions us for a purpose while we remain on this earth.  Our reward is to be transfigured into the identical likeness of Jesus.  But between the time he calls us and the time we are transfigured, we get to be continuously transformed toward His likeness.  Going backwards just isn’t an option.  We must “…all advance together to reach this victory-prize, following one path with one passion.” (Phil. 3:16 TPT).  Jesus is that passion.

Let’s pray.

Father, none of us would ever be where we are if it weren’t for You sending Jesus after us.  It is You who call us home to You, it is You who gave Your Son for us.  You desire us and want us in eternity with You.  If not for Jesus, we could never be worthy enough to be called Yours.  Thank you for the divine invitation You have extended to us to reach the heavenly goal and gain the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus.  May we continue each day to be transformed more and more into the likeness of Him, until the day we are completely transfigured into the identical likeness of Jesus.  Holy Spirit help us to keep advancing along the path of truth, revealing heaven through us to reach people along the way.  May Jesus be seen in us.  We are the light of the world because the Light of the world dwells in us.  May it shine brighter and bigger in us day by day by your power that is at work within us.  Amen.