"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (NKJV)
"Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead." Paul wasn’t just talking about the past and the future. He was talking about sin and spiritual growth. How do I know this? Because he starts by saying that he doesn’t count himself to have apprehended. What hasn’t he apprehended? The "prize of the upward call of God" which literally means the benefits of salvation. Paul clearly is stating that while we cannot earn the gift of salvation, once we have received the gift, there are things that we must do in order to continue in that gift.
We are either moving toward God or moving away from Him.
Our relationship with God cannot be static; it cannot ever remain the same. We cannot think that we have matured spiritually to the point where we can rest on past experiences or fully live for Him based on what we learned yesterday. We are either moving toward Him or away from Him. Each day, each moment is an opportunity to decide whose we are. Do we belong to ourselves? Then we may choose to indulge our flesh, to do something which is neither physically nor spiritually healthy. "Well, it’s just this once," you say. One candy bar . . . one order of fries . . . one R-rated movie . . . one sexually-charged date . . . one pencil taken off someone else’s desk. "No one is really hurt. It was just this once."
"Just this once." Is there such a thing? I don’t think so. We are either moving toward God or moving away from Him. There is no such thing as "just one sin" because even that one sin moves us away from God and once we are moving in that direction, changing directions becomes difficult. Think about it. Have you ever driven in San Francisco with its horribly-inclined streets? It’s almost impossible to stop mid-block because the slope is so severe. And, many times, if you do take a chance and stop (or have to stop due to traffic), you find the car sliding backwards even if that’s not what you want it to do.
In our relationship with God, there is no static motion. We cannot stand still spiritually. We are either moving toward God or moving away from Him. We are either choosing righteousness or choosing sin. We are either pressing toward the goal of the upward call or we are disqualifying ourselves. Paul wrote:
"So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:26-27NKJV).
"So that I should not be disqualified." The word here is adokimos which translates also as "reprobate." It is the same word used in 2 Corinthians 13:5 where Paul says, " Examine yourselves to see if your faith is really genuine" (NLT). It is the marker between being truly saved and simply thinking you are. It is literally the difference between heaven and hell. Rather than believe that, because of God’s mercy and grace, we can sin over and over and still serve Him, we need to begin to live our lives as if we couldn’t even do the sin "just this once." In this fight between God and Satan, between good and evil, between righteousness and the lust of our flesh, there is no "just this once." We are either moving toward God or moving away from Him. This needs to become the litany of our lives, the decision of each moment. Are we moving toward God? Each moment needs to be lived pressing upward to His high calling.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
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