Pressing On in 2023

What is your goal in life? Not goals-- plural, but rather your singular goal? Before Paul met the Lord on the road to Damascus, his singular goal was to be the very best Pharisee, to reach the top of his profession! Afterwards, he devalued his past and adopted a new goal: To know Jesus Christ, the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable unto His death. He wanted to know Jesus Christ experientially. But after 30 years, Paul admits that he has not arrived! He's not perfect. But he presses on to become mature in Christ! Now if Paul did not reach maturity in Christlikeness, who of us can say we have? To press on, we must first of all admit that we have not arrived. God is not finished with us yet. Secondly, we need to adopt a singular focus, and that is to pursue a relationship with Jesus Christ. To do so, we must thirdly forget the past which hinders us from moving forward in life. Past failures and sins as well as past successes and accomplishments. And then we need to press on like an athlete who strains every muscle to win the race-- total effort if we are we reach our goal of experientially knowing Jesus Christ. We need to press on in 2023!