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. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. – Philippians 3: 12-14

One thing Apostle Paul reiterates in all of his letters is that the evidence of true believers lies in their behavior.

That is, those who take the teachings of Jesus seriously and truly allow the Spirit to guide their lives are empowered to stay away from sins like fornication, excessive anger, arrogance, use of foul language, backbiting, and other desires of the flesh.

In Philippians 3: 9, Paul says that he no longer counts on his own righteousness and that it’s his faith in Christ that makes him righteous.

He basically says that he lets Jesus take the wheel.

Yet in almost the same breath, he says he has not reached the goal of perfection.

How can this be? How can the most Christ-like person in the Bible other than Jesus Christ himself have not reached perfection?

Well, because even as a devout believer, he was still in the world, and still in his flesh.

God had not yet given him a new spiritual body and called him home to be with Jesus. So as long as he lived, he was tasked with fighting the good fight of faith, which wasn’t always easy.

So we should know that our job as believers is not to be perfect. Because it’s impossible.

Our job is simply to look to Jesus every day and continue to press forward in our faith, growing past our imperfections over time.

If St. Paul himself admitted openly that he wasn’t perfect, it would be unreasonable for us to think that we’re not in God’s Book of Life just because we struggle with sin from time to time.

Like Paul, we will be fighting the good fight of faith for the rest of our earthly lives.

But our Lord, who is ever merciful, already swallowed up our sins for eternity when He sent Jesus to die on the cross.

And in His time, He will give us eternal life that is perfectly in sync with His Spirit.

Be blessed,

Alexia

Prayer: God, help me to not be discouraged in my earthly walk with Christ. Give me the mind to always press forward, forgetting the things of the past that I cannot change. Strengthen me as I continue to fight the good fight of faith so I may grow in your Spirit and become more and more Christ-like as time goes on. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen.