Fresh Start Devotionals

Going for the Goal I always wanted to dunk a basketball, but never could. I could get over the rim when I didn’t have a ball in my hand, but couldn’t grip the ball and get up high enough to slam it. My reach was beyond my grasp. Paul gave us his formula for “Going for the Goal” in Philippians 3:13–14: “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.” You can’t go for the goal if you are playing the wrong game. At one time, Paul pursued the goal of being the best rule keeper around, he made a pretty good pharisee, but God had another plan for him. Paul had to adapt his personal goals to follow God’s will for His life. You can’t go for the goal if you are living in the past. Perhaps God has more for us than the way we’ve always done things. You can’t press on if you are living in yesterday. You can’t go for the goal if you never show up for the game. God deserves your best effort, His kingdom is of the utmost importance, it is our first priority. Yet, many people treat their Christian life with reckless disregard. If you were as loyal on the job as your are to Christ would you get a promotion or fired? I never dunked a basketball, but I did solve the problem. How? I became the best football player I could become. Some bodies are not designed to live above the rim, they function better on the bottom of a pile. Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).