I love playing basketball. I’m not very good, and I have a miserable vertical jump, but I still love playing. I enjoy playing defense. One of my favorite defensive strategies in basketball is the full-court press. This is when you don’t let your opponent advance the ball one inch without contesting ground. You make it hard for them to move up and down the court. Full-court defense only works if you are in better shape than your opponent. In today’s verse, Paul presses on towards his goal of ultimate victory in Christ. Paul knows that Christ has already won the game, but he still works on living a good life. We call this sanctification. The believer in Jesus works with God to advance the gospel’s mission in the believer’s life and the community around them. The believer does not work for their salvation (this is called justification and is an entirely free gift from God), but we work out our salvation. So, Christian, how are you doing? As God works in you, how are you working out your salvation? How are you growing in Christlikeness? Are you truly living for Christ? How? If not, what is holding you back?
Philippians 3:12: “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.”
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Photo by TJ Dragotta on Unsplash
Scott Maxon 