Eyes on the Prize
September 7, 2009 by Standing on Truth
Filed under Christianity
This weekend, my family and I drove back from a Florida vacation. Our 4-year old was entertained for most of the 12+ hour trip, thanks to a DVD player that our friends loaned us. I had listened to about as many sermons and songs off of my Ipod that I could handle in one day and the view along the highway was nothing to write home about–this particular interstate was definitely more functional than scenic. After the first 6 hours or so passed, I began to feel a bit restless. I had just enjoyed one of the best vacations of my adult life and was filled to the rim with joy and peace, making hours of confinement in our small car feel like a sharp stick in the eye. I was ready to get home, if I must.
Then it hit me. The “going out there” trip was a breeze. Really. I can’t even recall thinking a complaint, and know I never voiced one. On the return trip, I was as antsy as a toddler who has to use the potty. So what was the difference?
“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
What was different was my destination–”the prize.” On the drive to Florida, I was anticipating the beach, the ocean, and a week of little responsibility, no work, and a whole lot of sun and family time. I was “straining toward” what was ahead. On the way back home, I was anticipating laundry, the start of a new work week, and the sometimes wearying routine of “life as usual.” Don’t get me wrong. I love my home, and my family and friends here in our hometown. I even love my “life as usual” most days, but there is something magical about the excitement of a vacation and the beauty that we knew awaited us in Florida.
Matthew Henry, in his Concise Commentary on the Bible, says,
“He who runs a race, must never stop short of the end, but press forward as fast as he can; so those who have heaven in their view, must still press forward to it, in holy desires and hopes, and constant endeavours. Eternal life is the gift of God, but it is in Christ Jesus; through his hand it must come to us, as it is procured for us by him. There is no getting to heaven as our home, but by Christ as our Way. . .Believers make Christ all in all, and set their hearts upon another world.”
It’s amazing what we can endure when our eyes are on the prize. If Jesus is our Lord and Savior, our destination is heaven. Plain and simple. He has “prepared a place” for us, as it promises in John 14:1-4: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
So everyday can be as if we had a Florida beach vacation (times one thousand) in our sights!
Henry says, “So those who have heaven in their view, must still press forward to it”. What would our life look like if we had “heaven in our view” every day? What could we accomplish for Jesus? What could we endure as part of the command to “take up your cross” (Mark 8:34)?
I hope that I can make that Florida vacation last all year long, simply by remembering that what awaits me in heaven is exponentially better, and with heaven in my view, I can press on, keeping my eyes on the prize.
