October 8 Philippians 3:4-14 Pressing on                

We must not stop pressing on toward the glory and wonder of God.           Psalter reading Psalm 80:7-15

7Restore us, O God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved! 8You have brought a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations, and planted it. 9You prepared room for it, And caused it to take deep root, And it filled the land. 10The hills were covered with its shadow, And the mighty cedars with its boughs. 11She sent out her boughs to the Sea, And her branches to the River. 12Why have You broken down her hedges, So that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit? 13The boar out of the woods uproots it, And the wild beast of the field devours it. 14Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see, And visit this vine 15And the vineyard which Your right hand has planted, And the branch that You made strong for Yourself. 

Psalm 80:7-15 NKJV

4though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  12Not 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. 13Brethren, 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, 14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.                  Philippians 3:4-14 NKJV

Many people have some form of GPS they use often.  But what would happen if you only put in a question mark where the destination goes?  There would be no map and no directions.  Where are you going?

Many Christians know where they are but have no idea where they are going other than either not going to hell or maybe going to heaven.  But in these verses the ultimate destination is the fullness of God, God’s call for our lives and to fellowship with God in His sufferings.

To you this may sound like a destination you did not expect or even want but Paul tells us that not only is this worth putting into your GPS it is worth not looking to your starting point!  Or to put it simply;

In Jesus Christ the best is yet to be!