Not There Yet
Today we’re at the sixth point of our spiritual checkup. We’ll read Philippians 3:12 to 14. “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
At first blush it may seem that Paul is repeating himself here, but I don’t believe he is. He uses similar words, but if you look carefully there is a difference. Just like passages we looked at earlier where he talked about counting all things as loss and then talked about suffering the loss of all things - there is a significant difference here.
We’ll look at the difference between the two “press ons” later, but just now I want to draw your attention to Paul’s implication that spiritually mature persons recognise that they have not “arrived spiritually.” They know that they have not achieved perfection of any kind. Of course, they are not as bad as they were, but they are not as good as they could be.
Recently, I came across an article in which the author commented that the deeper his relationship with God became, the more shallow he realized it was and the more he thirsted for God. When he didn’t have a particularly deep relationship with God he felt pretty good about it, generally okay. But as he learned more of God’s character, began to walk more in the Spirit and started to experience the fringes along the edge of all that God is, he realized there was so much more.
This seems rather counter intuitive. You’d think that the more you got to know God the deeper you’d sense the relationship, but in fact the more you get to know God the more you realize there is of Him to know that you don’t know yet. Here, Paul says in effect that the more mature you become the more aware you become that you fall short. You are not “there” yet.
Many of us would publicly agree to this. We may even take pride in our willingness to admit to our shortcomings. Yet privately, we may be quite content with the status quo. In our heart of hearts, we don’t want to be disturbed. We know we haven’t “arrived” yet, spiritually. We have not grasped fully that which God has for us, but we’re not too eager to disrupt our lives.
As believers, we have a strong inner desire to be near to our heavenly Father, just as we are drawn to a warm human relationship. In both our relationships with other persons and with God, the closer you are to someone the more time you want to spend with that person. Typically, we most want to be with those that affirm us, that build into our lives, that make us feel good about ourselves and about the relationship. God affirms us as we become more and more like His Son. He doesn’t demand perfection, but He does expect growth.
Check up question 6: Do I freely acknowledge, privately as well as publicly, that I still have a long way to go in my spiritual development?
Ron Hughes
© November 2008
