Pressing Regardless of Circumstances

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Php 3:14 AV)

What makes this verse all the more remarkable is the immediate context of Paul’s life at the moment of its inspiration.  Philippians is probably the most well-known of his prison epistles.  That is, most know Paul wrote this letter while under house arrest in Rome.  Paul had a hard road from the moment he received Christ until he died a martyr’s death.  When Paul wrote the above verse, his liberty was greatly reduced.  He didn’t have a church to go to.  He couldn’t go into the synagogues or marketplaces and dispute with the lost for the salvation of their souls.  He could not go house to house and teach the word of God as he did in other towns and cities of the Roman Empire.  Paul could not preach on the street corner as he did in Ephesus, preach on Mars Hill as he did in Athens, or start a church in the home of a tentmaker as he did in Corinth.  When Paul wrote the above verse, his race was very narrow.  He had less opportunity and more to overcome than at any time in his life.  Yet, he did not use his declining liberty and restricted opportunity to slow his resolve.  No matter the circumstances of life, he vowed to press on and finish well.  There are two types of people.  Some surrender to their circumstances and allow those circumstances to defeat them, or some seek a way to overcome them.  It seems the latter is the exception and not the rule. 

While I attended Junior High, I used to run track.  I was a sprinter.  Long-distance racing was not my thing.  However, our coach required we all learn to run long-distance races.  Our practices consisted of a mile to a five-mile run almost every time we practiced.  We would learn relays, hurdles, or dashes.  As a sprinter, there was one skill I could not seem to master.  The coach told us to speed up and run hard the last few lengths of our race.  As a sprinter this was impossible.  I ran a few yards and was done.  I ran as fast as I could for one hundred yards and that was that.  But when he had me run the 500, 700, or 1500 meters, I had to learn to pace my run and then accelerate the last few lengths.  I never could master that technique.  Once I was in a rhythm, I could neither accelerate nor slow down.  Since my lungs couldn’t take long-distance running, I often was unable to finish the race.  The adversity of running any length of time or distance was too much to handle.  I couldn’t press toward the mark because I let the circumstances of the race defeat me.

It takes a lot of faith and character to continue a race that seems to be in decline.  I imagine Paul was tempted to have a mid-life crisis.  I imagine Paul had the temptation to look at all that he had done, realizing he would never come close to accomplishing anything more like it, and pass the baton off to someone with more liberty and energy.  I imagine he looked at Timothy and saw an opportunity to retire.  But he did not.  He did not allow the life changes to diminish his commitment to finish his course until he broke the tape.  No doubt he poured on the afterburners, put us chest forward, and regardless of how much he had left in the tank, he pressed forward.  The older I get, the more I appreciate the elderly.  They have every right to kick back and rest for the remainder of their years.  They have earned the right to be waited on hand and foot.  They can do little in comparison to what they once did.   But they do not.  Many seasoned citizens will outwork the younger generation.  The question is, are we pressing toward the mark?  Or are we sitting in the cinders, burned out and unable to continue?