The Mirror of the Word by C.E. White can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Word-Devotions-Reveal-Refine/dp/B0DFZS83C7  To learn more about this author and other words, visit https://cewhitebooks.com/

“Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

—Philippians 3:12–14

Jesus took hold of me; now it’s my job to take hold of what he’s given me. We are not the authors of our salvation, but it is our job to continue working with diligence, discipline, and self–control to attain the prize.

The Word implores us to pursue righteousness (1 Timothy 6:11). We will never fully attain it in this life, but we’re never given permission to live in the flesh (Romans 6:12–14). Instead, we’re constantly implored to put our whole will toward living righteously and putting to death the deeds of the flesh. True faith requires continually working toward obedience (Philippians 2:12).

This passage goes on to say that those who walk according to their fleshly appetites and whose minds are on earthly things are enemies of Christ. He does not say they are bad Christians; he calls them enemies (Philippians 3:18).

We may have lived as such in the past (1 Corinthians 6:11), but as believers, we do not dwell on what lies behind, return to slavery once freed (Hebrews 11:15), nor place our hope in our current circumstances. We press on to what lies ahead—our eternal inheritance with Christ, which we are promised as long as we abide in him. 

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