Straining Toward the Goal

I feel like a reoccurring theme I've seen in my life these past few weeks has been that of "pressing forward". In dry seasons, in joy, in sadness and in providence, the Lord has been continually teaching me the importance of pressing forward, in to Him. In Philippians 3, Paul touches on this topic after talking about the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Philippians 3:12-16

I love what Paul says in verse 12, "I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own". So good. I think one of the most important things I'm learning in all of this is that my efforts must be grace-driven, or they're inevitably fruitless. We don't press in to Christ for our own gratification or purposes, but rather, we press in to Him for His glory and purposes (and as a result we are gratified). When we continually press in to Christ for all that He is, as opposed to all that we are/aren't, we find true contentment and joy in Him alone. It takes a certain amount of discipline on our part, but it is only through the grace of God that we are able to know and experience the surpassing worth of Christ.

And finally, I'll leave you with this: Sara Groves has a song called "Painting Pictures of Egypt" that I thought fit pretty perfectly (actually, my friend Maridith was the one that suggested I look up the lyrics when I was talking to her about all this, but whatevs). Groves' lyrics echo Paul's sentiments in verse 13 when he says that he is "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead".

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
Caught between the promise
And the things I know

Oh and P.S. The wedding was great and I have the cutest niece ever...