https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians+3%3A12-16&version=ESV (Philippians 3:12-16) Dear friends: As we enter the season of spring, some people’s thoughts turn to the field of athletics. It’s usually track season this time of year. It’s fun to watch the jumpers and the shot putters and the javelin throwers do their thing, but the events that I especially enjoy watching are the running events. Whether it's the hundred-yard dash or the long-distance running, I find it very exciting to watch these athletes pushing themselves and straining to put in their best run. Well the apostle Paul takes us to the track in today's passage as he describes his life with Jesus. He uses running and track terms to describe that life. Paul obviously liked athletics, because he refers to them in some of his other letters as well – uses them as illustrations. Let me quickly set this portion of text up for us before we “take a run” through it. Prior to these verses Paul has written about: since he met Jesus in his conversion, he has set aside counting on personal religious achievements to make himself right with God. He's let go of those spiritual trophies he built his life upon in order to receive the righteousness and rescue that only Jesus Christ can give a person. He also testified that he wants to spend the rest of his days knowing and serving Jesus and His kingdom cause. His desire is to know the power of Christ's resurrection and his own and to share in his suffering, and he looks forward to standing with Jesus on the great day of resurrection, the grand finale. Now, in our verses for today, Paul continues this line of thought with this statement: “not that I've already obtained these things,” (meaning received), the resurrection of the dead – resurrection day hasn't arrived yet – or “not that I'm already perfect,” (and perfect actually means “maturity” here), “but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own.” Paul is saying “I know I have not arrived at the resurrection, or to full maturity, in my relationship with Jesus, or in my serving Him effectively.” I find this to be a humble, realistic critique of one's life. I haven’t arrived, I'm still on the way. And then Paul says again, for emphasis to the folks, “Brothers and sisters, I don't consider that I made it on my own.” It's his way of modeling for them the right attitude, he’s emphasizing something here: If I, your teacher, spiritual leader, pastor, one you respect and looked up to, think this way about myself, then you should adopt the same perspective of yourself. Stay away from thinking of yourself as having “spiritually arrived”. That's nothing but arrogance and it’s prideful and dangerous to your spiritual health. Remember that pride does come before a fall. Friend, the fact is we never will arrive at full maturity until we’re standing with Jesus on resurrection day. Like the crops in the field, we’re always ripening for the great harvest to come. Paul says now, “Though I haven’t arrived, I press on to make it my own.” Now, this is runners’ language. The image given to us is that of a runner who's pressing on, pressing forward, to complete his or her race. This is not a tepid, passive, halfhearted Christianity that Paul's describing for us here. This is an all-out run. The seasoned athlete knows that the race isn't won or lost until the end has been reached, so she keeps running. I remember, earlier on in my adult life, I ran a couple of marathons myself. I found each one to be very tiring and challenging, and even grueling at certain moments, but I kept pushing ahead because I was determined to get to that finish line. Even when I was hardly able to put one foot in front of another, I pressed on until 26.3 miles were behind me. That's the imagery in this statement of Paul’s, as he talks about “pressing on” in the Christian life. Paul goes on to say that as he keeps running to complete his race of faith with Jesus, he...