Press On
Philippians 3:4b-14
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
We carry too much in this life. Not just physical burdens, but emotional and spiritual ones—the weight of past wounds, the echoes of painful words, and the lingering scars of experiences we would rather forget but struggle to put down. Paul speaks with such clarity in today’s passage: “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal.” But forgetting what lies behind is not always easy.
The words of a parent that left a child feeling unloved, the sting of childhood ridicule, the deep wounds of abuse, the heated arguments between spouses meant only to wound—these experiences and many others lodge themselves within us. They create what I call “tapes” that play over and over in our minds. These recordings whisper lies about our worth, our abilities, and our place in this world. “You’re not good enough.” “You’ll never succeed.” “If people knew the real you, they wouldn’t like you.” These voices take root in our souls, constricting our growth and poisoning our sense of self.
Most of us have these tapes playing in one form or another. Some are faint, others deafening. And for many, the messages are far more brutal than we can imagine. But growing in faith means learning to silence them or at least ignore them. It means turning to God for the grace to release what binds us—to recognize these messages for the lies they are and to embrace the truth of who we are in Christ.
Paul reminds us in his letter to the Corinthians: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” This isn’t just a lofty spiritual idea; it is a deep and personal truth. In Christ, we are made new. The burdens we carry, the pain we shoulder—he takes them upon himself so that we don’t have to.
And yet, we hold on. Some wounds require years of healing, but through God’s grace, we are invited to begin the process. When we see ourselves as Christ sees us—beloved, redeemed, whole—we can start to loosen our grip on the baggage that weighs us down. We can press forward, reaching for something better, for the upward call of God in Christ.
As the prayer made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous reminds us:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.”
May God give us that wisdom today—the wisdom to let go, to press on, and to embrace the new creation we are in Christ. Amen.
Blessings,
Randy+
prayer
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Daily Lenten meditations each have a companion morning prayer video offered by the same clergy. View the YouTube playlist to find this meditation’s companion video, or to watch others.