Text: Philippians 3:12-14
“12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
“Par Excellence” means “to a degree of excellence.
What it means to be in a “Par Excellence”?
1. Not settling in mediocrity (v.12) To be a par excellence, we should not settle in mediocrity. Mediocrity is a state of our thinking that we have already achieves the highest level where the truth is we still have a way to go. It is where we thought that we are already good and have nothing to do anymore.
Mediocrity and contentment are two different things. Mediocrity is “ordinariness as a consequence of being average and not outstanding. It is more on settling on a second rate ability or value where we can obviously get better and the highest level of our ability.
On the other hand, contentment is being happy on one’s situation in life. This means that we are still happy and satisfied in whatever situation we are in. Even if we have problems or failed the exam, we can still smile to the world and accept its reality.
Sometimes though, we only feel contented in good situations, like winning in a contest or when we are well provided. True contentment is being happy in whatever situation.
2. Continuously striving (v.12-13) Not only that we did not settle in mediocrity, we should be continuously striving. If mediocrity is a state of thinking, this is now the practical application of not settling in mediocrity. Just like Paul, he do not consider to have attained all the things that he had attained, instead, he continuously pursue the prize that is ahead.
In addition, this is exactly what it means to be a par excellence. It is not settling on second rate ability or value but continuously pursuing excellence or the highest level that we can attain. It is continuously going for an extra mile. It is like extracting extra energy from our inner being to continue another mile.
No matter how many times we fail, it is pursuing to be the best. I still remember famous stories of many scientists. Despite of all failures they have experienced, they continue to move on until they have discovered what they have been looking for.
Alexander Graham Bell tried and tried how in the world a person can transmit a voice through a wire until one day at last, he found out how. Thomas Alba Edison tried hundreds of different materials in order to produce a good light using the electricity that was just newly discovered, until one day he found tungsten to be the best material that’s why we have the incandescent bulb. The Wright brothers, tried their best to fly and experimented different materials and models of wings to enable people to fly, until one day, they have created the first aircraft that marked the birth of Aerial Navigation.
We can name hundreds of scientists who continuously pursued for the best and have achieved excellence. But how about us as people who just started to step on the reality of life. Are you going to continue to pursue excellence?
3. His aim is always for the highest (v.14)Being par excellence is to aim only for the highest. There is nothing wrong to always aim for the highest as long as it is accompanied with contentment. You don’t have to compete in order to attain for the highest nor you don’t have to hurt anyone just to attain excellence. Aiming for the highest is a matter of attitude and self-discipline.
No athlete wins by not following the rules. This is the same in the race of Christian life. We can never attain par excellence if we do not follow the rules, the standards that was set in the Bible. We cannot attain excellence without God. Mark 8:36 “36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” There is no good of achieving the highest award without God.
Just like Paul, we have to aim for the goal. Not just to finish a lap, but to finish the whole race. There are many students now who just want to finish a lap, some are even contented to finish half a lap. While our parents labor for us to finish our studies, some of us labor so hard to have the highest score and upgrades in online games. It is so sad to see many students who are no longer studying at school and mastering how to use every single character in Flyff, Ragnarok, Tantra, and Khan. Is this the kind of excellence that we want to achieve? Can we earn and live in the future and become better citizens by having a degree of MOG (Masters in Online Games), MHSL (Masters High School Level) and MCD (Masters of College Degree)?
Let us look ourselves if we are really aiming for the highest. Some of us will be going to college, while some for high school. But how are we seeing things ahead of us? Are we aiming for the best and the highest level of our educational attainment? Or how about after finishing college, are looking forward to become CEO’s of top companies?
4. He presses on for a purpose (v.14)As we strive towards the goal, we have to presses forward with a purpose. We have to ask ourselves if we know the purpose of why we are striving for the highest. Paul in our passage strives on towards the goal to win the prize, which God called him heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul is very confident in his statement because he know the purpose of his striving. His purpose to reach the goal to win the prize, and the prize he is after is in Christ Jesus. Here we see the highest purpose that we can ever have, that is to be striving in Christ Jesus.
How about us, do we strive for ourselves? Do strive hard for someone else? There is nothing wrong in striving for someone or for ourselves. But inline with this I think it is still best prioritize our spiritual lives with this purpose. God wants us to offer our very best to Him and not to someone else, not even ourselves. He presses the goal in Christ Jesus, this is why no doubt, he was able to be one of the best apostles par excellence.
SIDEBAR
I have a new lense at Squidoo: OUTREACH BIBLE STUDY
Click the above link, and you will learn a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment