Devotional
for the week – 5 February 2007
BE
THOU MY VISION
Scripture Text : Philippians
3: 7 - 16
As
the sermon title suggests we should always desire to know God
better and have a closer relationship with Him. Sometimes we start
off with an enthusiastic heart but along the way, it is easy for
us to give in to the temptations and pressures around us and lose
our focus on God. When we lose our fervor for God, our faith becomes
lukewarm. To prevent this, we should always focus on God. In addition
to staying on course with God, there are four other reasons why
we must focus on God.
1.
In order to know Him
We must focus on Christ in order to know Him (Phil 3: 7-8). Paul’s
life was completely God-centered because he wanted to know Christ.
He forsook anything that hindered his relationship with Christ.
Christ was always first on his mind. Do we, like Paul, love Christ
with all our heart, soul and mind? Is Christ first in our thoughts?
If He is, then the reward is your joy and His honor.
2.
To confirm our justification
We should be dedicated to Christ to confirm our justification.
What does justification mean? It refers to the wonderful act of
God in which He forgives all our sins and imputes to us His own
righteousness through our faith in Christ. Faith which justifies
is a faith which forsakes earthly values and pursues Christ. Saving
faith is not merely a one-time decision for Christ. It should
manifest itself in an ongoing preference for Christ over all other
values.
3.
Because we are so imperfect
We must be dedicated to Christ because in our own human state,
we are so deficient. Our deficiency should drive us to pursue
Christ. If we do not pursue Christ, we indicate that we do not
trust His power and willingness to change our imperfectness. Alternatively,
we are insisting on clinging to our imperfection.
4.
Because He made us His own
The final reason why we should be dedicated to Christ is that
He first loved us and by His death and resurrection on the cross,
made it possible for us to be His own through faith. This fact
drove Paul to pursue holiness. Our pursuit of holiness depends
on the sovereign work of God in our lives. We need to work out
our salvation because God is at work in us (Phil 3:12). Our work
is His work for His glory when done on His power.
HOW
DO WE KEEP GOD AS THE CENTER OF OUR FOCUS?
Phillipians
3:13 tells us of at least 3 ways.
Firstly,
develop a holy dissatisfaction with your spiritual life. Assess
yourself honestly and do not be easily satisfied. Instead aim
for higher standards. Determine to spend more time with the Lord,
studying and mediating on God’s word. Aim to deepen your
relationship with the Lord.
Secondly,
forget those things which lie behind (v 13). Anything that hinders
your pursuit of God should be put out of your mind. This does
not mean that memory has no place in our spiritual artillery.
It does. Some memories are won by remembered mercies (Psalm: 77:11;
Hebrews 11). Do not look back and be so weighed down by remorse
and regret that you are discouraged from changing your life. Instead,
when you look back, ask yourself “what can I learn from
this episode?” or “what can I do better the next time
around?”. Look back in order to chart a better way forward.
Always remember to give sincere thanks to God for the successes
in your life. Keep short accounts with God, confessing your wrong
doing. Then turn your future over to Christ and dedicate yourself
to Him.
Thirdly,
strain forward to what lies ahead (v 13). Focusing on God requires
discipline and self-denial. This is similar to the training of
an athlete. He trains and disciplines himself with a goal in mind
and that is to win the race or match he is participating in. God
does not promise His riches to aimless people. Paul lived with
spiritual goals in mind. We too must learn to train and discipline
ourselves if we want to reach our goal.
CONCLUSION
It
is God who is at work in us to will and do His good pleasure.
So be encouraged, we do not run in our own strength, but His.
When we dedicate our lives to our Holy God, we can be assured
that He will give us His joy and we will be able to reach the
goal of becoming holy as God is holy.
Prayer
Response
Dear Lord Jesus, I want to thank you for providing a way for me
to be saved. I pray that I will keep my eyes focused on you and
help me not to be distracted or side-tracked. Strengthen me and
enable me to be discipline in spending time with you and studying
from your Word so that I may reach the goal you have set for me.
Amen
Devotional
based on message by Rev Vincent Goh.