I press on..

I press on…
Happy New Year to everyone! I pray that 2009 will be a year of great ministry for each of us and that God will help each one of us achieve everything He has placed in our hearts to do. The beginning of a new year is usually marked by some type of resolutions to make changes in our lives in areas that we have not experienced change to the degree that we desire. I recently ordered a book from a Christian company. The book was on sale because it was not considered first quality. I found the title and description very interesting and it really spoke a message to me as well. It said, “The Heavenly Man (slightly imperfect)”. I think this is an accurate description of a believer in Christ. We are seated with Christ at the right hand of glory yet we also live on the earth and experience an imperfect life marked by sin. We are all slightly imperfect. None of us can make a claim to have arrived and become everything God has destined for our lives. We are on a journey that is often marked with success and failure. We all have areas of our life that we want to focus on and see improvements. Our imperfections can be found in many areas of our lives: physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, social or financial. God is a God who can bring about changes in our lives in the areas that we struggle with our imperfections. We can look at our imperfections and despair and simply accept things as they are without any hope of seeing change or we can seek God and with his help follow a course that will bring about the changes we desire. We don’t have to accept things as permanent that we know can change in spite of how many times you may have tried and failed.
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippian church reflected on his spiritual progress (3:12-14) and give us some principle we can put into practice to bring about change in our lives.
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be,* but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.*

Paul gives us some principles to follow to bring about change in our lives. The first thing he notes is that he recognized and admitted his imperfections. Paul had many successes in his ministry and to many people in his day and even in our day he was considered a spiritual giant. Paul had an accurate assessment of himself. He knew that in spite of his successes and growth he was not all that he should or could be. There were still areas of growth and change that were needed in his life. Change can only happen when we are willing to see ourselves accurately and indentify our imperfections. Most of us do not have a lot of trouble with this first step. But if you do have trouble just ask your spouse or a friend and I am sure they can help you identify several areas that are in need of improvement. When we are willing to admit our faults it opens us up to receiving help from God and his people. The person who hides their weakness and is not transparent with people will find it difficult to overcome their imperfections. Paul confessed to the whole church that he was not at the place he should or could be. He had not achieved everything God had for him. What area of your life do you want to see God work a change? Identify it, admit it, be open to God and a trusted friend to take it out of hiding so you can begin to make changes.
The second thing Paul mentioned in these verses was he was focused on a goal. Paul had a determination to not let his past failings or successes keep him from moving forward toward the goal. It seems in life there are two kinds of people, the floaters and the focused. The floaters just go with the flow, they let other people and circumstances determine their destiny. They have no plans, no real solid goals or ambition. They live from day to day, doing the same things over and over and that becomes their life. The other type of people are those who have a focus, those who set goals and live with a purpose and do not let their past determine their future. When we want to see change in our lives we must set aside the past, forget it, no matter how horrible or difficult it has been and focus on the goal that you have set for yourself. You may have tripped, fallen, been pushed aside, treated unfairly, dealt a bad hand, etc. and you can use that as an excuse to keep you from pursuing the goal that is before you. Sometimes we simply need to forgive ourselves for the failures we have experienced. Maybe you have had a relationship with another person go bad and you have been the one at fault or at least have been responsible for some of the destruction and you are now having a hard time moving forward with your life because you are constantly looking back at the failures you made. Our focus and our energies have to be directed toward the goal that we have set. Don’t waste your time or energy looking back, look toward the goal you have set.
I remember in Boy Scouts we had a class called orienteering. It was a class about using a map and compass to go from one destination to another. We had contests using our compasses to complete a course that was laid out for us. The goal was to get as close as possible to the final destination point that was unknown to us. We would typically be given a direction such as 279 degrees and a distance that we were to go such as 100 feet. Two things were very important. One, you had to plot a line to walk in the direction that you were given. To do this you had to use the compass and sight in on an object in the distance that was in line with the direction you were going to walk. Once you had your object marked you fixed your eyes on it and began to walk toward it. The second critical element was you had to know the distance covered with each of your steps. Each step had to be the same and you calculated exactly how many steps you would take to go the distance you were given. When you reached the destination, you were given another direction and distance. The people who set up the course knew exactly where you were to finish and the winner was determined by how close they came to the final destination. Goals in life will only be achieved when we keep our focus on them and take calculated steps to achieve them. Goal setting is important when you are serious about making changes in your life. A goal is really not a goal until you write it down and share it with someone. Putting it in writing usually means you have thought it through and know exactly what you want to achieve. By writing it down and sharing your goal with another person, you are taking the first steps toward achieving it. When you give it to someone else it becomes even more established because you are holding yourself accountable to that person.
Once the goal is set you will have to make changes in your life to achieve it. To achieve your goal means you will have to make changes in your priorities of how you use your time and resources so you can carry out the plan you have formulated or the steps you will need to take to realize your goal. Someone said that insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting the results to be different. The goal you have set must be worth the sacrifices you will need to make in order to achieve it. You will have to give up something in order to gain something more valuable than the thing you are giving up. You will have to discipline yourself to say no to many things that only serve to draw you away and steal your time. You have to form new habits to replace the habits that will rob you from accomplishing your goal. Old habits tend to die hard and we will struggle with them until we replace them with new habits. I remember working on an advanced degree in a distance learning program and the struggles I had at times with making sacrifices of my time and interests in order to complete the classes and write the papers for each class. To get my work done I simply had to say no to other activities, no matter how appealing they seemed. The things that I gave up were not things that I would never have the opportunity to do at another time, it was not like if you don’t go now you will never be able to do this. There were times when I gave in to the desire but you know you really don’t enjoy the activity to the degree you normally would because there is the little voice called your conscience that seems to constantly remind you that you are not doing the right thing. It really takes the joy out of the experience and the times when I made the sacrifice and spent the hours of reading, researching and writing always left me with a feeling of satisfaction and reward because I was moving closer to my goal of completing the degree. I think one of the rewards of having a goal and working toward it is the sense of accomplishment you feel each time you carry out the disciplines and complete the steps you have established to work toward the goal. If you are a floater or an undisciplined person you will probably never experience this type of satisfaction that is built in with progressing toward a goal. If you are a construction worker you understand the satisfaction one feels at the end of the day when you can look at the work you have planned and accomplished that day and feel good about it. As each day passes and the work continues toward the goal you gain momentum because you can see the end in sight and there is a great sense of accomplishment provided that the quality of your work is at the standard it should be. Set your goal, share your goal, set your priorities and make the sacrifices necessary to achieve the steps you have planned to reach the goal, these are the initial steps you will have to take.

The next principle that Paul mentioned is the amount of effort that will be needed to achieve your goal. Paul said “I strain to reach the end of the race.” In other words give it all you have until you reach the finish line. Most races are won at the very end when the competitors give everything they have as they reach the finish line. It is not the time to go into cruise control but it is the time to push yourself to the limit to make sure no one else gets the prize. The husband of my boss when I worked for the motorcycle program made a statement to me that he had read in a book which said that the last 10 percent of the work in achieving the goal will require 90 percent of the energy. I never really understood the statement when he made it because I thought that most of the energy is needed to get things started. But the truth of the statement has become more evident as I observe how things change and how people achieve their goals in spite of the most difficult obstacles that seem to always appear as you get closer to the goal. The last part of the race is usually the most difficult and if you want to finish in first place you have to strain at the finish line. If your goal has been to lose weight the first pounds come off a lot easier than the last pounds. Running the first mile of a marathon is a whole lot different than the 26th mile.
Survey of Gifted People
In 1962, Victor and Mildred Goertzel published a revealing study of 413 “famous and exceptionally gifted people” called Cradles of Eminence. They spent years attempting to understand what produced such greatness, what common thread might run through all of these outstanding people’s lives.
Surprisingly, the most outstanding fact was that virtually all of them, 392, had to overcome very difficult obstacles in order to become who they were.
Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel, 1987, Word Books Publisher, p. 134

Straining also implies that there is opposition or forces working against you. If you are involved in ministry you know very well that there are spiritual forces of darkness and demonic powers that are working hard against you. As you set out to fulfill a God given goal you have to also expect that these enemies will be working hard against you because they understand how accomplishing your goal will make you stronger in God and a stronger force against them. They do not want you to succeed and they will come against you to try to discourage and stop your progress. I believe the enemy has assignments against us and he uses demons as well as people to try to stop us. We have to recognize the attack, resist the devil and command him to leave us alone. He cannot usurp the authority God has given us as believers. We have been given power over the enemy. The devil is definitely an enemy who opposes us but sometimes we can also become our own enemy by making choices that go against our goal. We can become lazy or we can get our lives out of balance and push too hard to achieve our goal and cause damage to our physical body as well as damage to relationships we have ignored in the process.

The final thing Paul mentions is that a reward will be given to those who finish the race and have run by the rules. The reward will be based on the quality of your effort and your performance. God is concerned with how we have run the race not just that we have finished it. He wants us to finish strong and finish with a clean conscience. Our works will be tested by fire to determine their quality: wood, hay, stubble or precious metals and stones. Some people when they are given or take on an assignment or project never put their best effort into it. They complete the job but will not receive much of a reward. It is usually done late and the quality is not what they could have made it with more effort. If you set your goals you may as well put your best effort into it so that it will be something you will be proud of doing. When you take short cuts or use inferior materials or do not do quality work, it will show. You may have saved time, money and energy but the reputation that you will gain from poor workmanship will be remembered and will be a hindrance to you.
One problem that seems to come up in some marathon races is runners who start the race but take a short cut so they can be near the front when they finish the race. They wanted the thrill of victory without the agony of de feet! Many races now use devices that are laced to the shoe and when the runner passes checkpoints the device is recognized by a machine which verifies the runner has stayed the course. It is important that you give your best effort in achieving your goal so that you can celebrate with a clean conscience and establish a good reputation among those who are supporting or observing you. I think about Barry Bonds who set the record for homeruns but his record will always be marked with an asterisk because he used steroids to enhance his performance. He will never be able to fully enjoy the record because he failed to play by the rules.

I want to challenge each of us tonight to identify at least one area of your life that you can say that you want to change. Perhaps you want to increase your understanding of the Bible by reading through it in one year. Write it down as your goal: I will read through the Bible in one year. Share your goal with another person and ask them to help you by holding you accountable. You could do this by asking them to check on your progress each week via some form of communication. Break your goal into measurable steps. Maybe you will read three chapters a day or you can follow a plan that someone has already devised. Some people have a chart in which they check off the chapters read each day to help keep track of what they have done and what is yet to be done. A visual aid can help motivate you as you see the chart being filled in. I knew a married couple that set a goal to lose weight. To help motivate them they put a picture on the refrigerator of “the way we were.” Every time they went to get food out of the refrigerator there was a visual reminder of the goal they had set. Motivational speakers encourage people to reward themselves for achieving certain landmarks along the way. If you are working with someone to hold them accountable maybe you could be the one who sets the rewards for achieving goals along the way. A gift, a meal, public recognition among peers etc. are all things that can be incorporated into the program to help motivate people to press on. External rewards can be powerful motivators but the internal rewards and the satisfaction you gain by seeing the goals being accomplished will be the strongest motivational factors that will bring permanent change. Determine what you will need to give up or sacrifice in order to meet your goal. If your goal is reading through the Bible you may need to get up a half hour earlier than normal or give up a tv program or use part of your lunch time etc. Give up activities that steal your time and block off the time you need to dedicate to working on your goal. Establish the disciplines and make them become a habit. After awhile you will feel badly if you miss doing the disciplines and that is a good sign. Make your goal a priority in your life, keeping it in the proper perspective of your responsibilities so that when you complete your goal there are loved ones with you to celebrate with you. Give your best effort, don’t take short cuts or short change yourself from being able to celebrate with a clear conscience and a good reputation.
Paul’s words to us bear repetition and I would like to close with them.

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.

An audio file can be downloaded at:http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.php?get=946150260.wma