Heaven Bound or Earthly Drowned?

Let's talk about focus. I was sitting at my kitchen table this morning and looking out the window feeling a little depressed and dejected and frustrated.  I am always trying to come up with some idea to try and make extra money. I think all of us can use a little extra here and there.  I have not been one to really think about money much.  I have been very blessed in that God has always provided more than what I needed.  Currently, I can use a little more because the basics are barely covered!  As I sat praying and pouring my heart out, I thought, "Let me see what I can find about prosperity in the Scriptures" and I opened  my Bible to where I had left off the day before and my eyes were carried to the end of Chapter 3 of Philippians where Paul is talking about running the race to receive the prize.  Today is also the Race for the Cure...coincidence?  Nope!

Look at Philippians 3: 12.  It became so clear to me that this partnership between Paul and Christ is what I need to focus on.  I picked out these words, "I took hold of Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus took hold of me." He goes on and basically is telling us to look ahead.  Don't look back.  Remember Lots wife when she turned back to look behind her she became a pillar of salt and to this day, nothing will grow in the soil where that pillar of salt dissolved.  How powerful is that?!  When we spend our time looking back, we hinder growth.  When we look back, we loose our grip on Christ Jesus because He is in front of us and we cannot maintain that hold if we are turned the opposite direction. Verse 14 says how Paul presses on to the goal for the prize which God has called him heavenward (or forward, in my interpretation).

In verse 17 he asks us to follow his example and then in verse 19 he groups people together.  He talks about people who are focused on the goals of the day instead of the goals of eternity.  How very small a vision we have if we only focus on the things of this world.  How infinite our dreams can be if we allow ourselves the freedom of focusing on heavenly goals. The folks who are feeding their appetite for money, or climbing a ladder for personal success, or gluttons who spend more money on unnecessary food or shopping in general rather than putting money into ministry, who have too high a car payment just to keep up with social status, or whose mortgage is strangling them so they live in a place where they can be "seen".  What are we focused on?

I have no need for sweet treats now and again but I selfishly argue that "I deserve it" and spend that $3.00 that could be used for something more beneficial.  What example am I sending to my daughter?  What is your vice?  A manicure?  New shoes when you have plenty?  Alcohol?  Eating out when you can eat in?  Movies that are not Christ honoring? Cigarettes? Snack foods?  Magazines? Cars? Jewelry? Plants? Home Decor?  How blurred is your line between needs and wants (or deserves)?  How skewed  is your focus?  Let Holy Spirit convict you and listen well to His call.  What a stronger church and stronger families we would be if we listened to Paul's suggestion and focused our eyes on Jesus.

The last 2 verses are, in short interpretation, saying that Jesus Christ has everything under control and will transform us to be like Him.  That is the prize.

Philippians 3:12-21 

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, 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,¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

¹⁷ Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.