Raise the Bar

   Raise the bar and set it high. If we have a low expectation for our Christian walk we might easily achieve it but deny ourselves what could have been.

   Apostle Paul said his goal was to know Christ, to be like Christ, and to be all Christ had in mind for him to be. Paul makes several claims in Philippians 3 (TPT).

   v9 “My passion is to be consumed with him…”

   v10 “I continually long to know the wonders of Jesus more fully and to experience the overflowing power of his resurrection working in me.”

   v12“I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing but I run with passion into his abundance so that I may reach the purpose for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me to make me his own”.

   God knit us together in our mother’s womb. When someone knits it’s with a purpose in mind, maybe it will be booties or a blanket to snuggle in. They pick the type of yarn, the colors, and the pattern depending on who it’s for and the purpose of the creation.

   Likewise, when God knit us together he picked certain traits and features, added abilities and gifting’s, certain likes, and motivations.  Can you just picture God picking out your 23 pairs of chromosomes and 10,000 plus genes that make you unique? He then lovingly knit them all together into a person called you.He did it with a purpose in mind.

   Paul didn’t depend on his own strength to accomplish fulfilling his purpose or discovering what it was; it came from time with God. Paul couldn’t go to the library to check out a book titled DISCOVERING PAUL’S PURPOSE FOR DUMMY’S and neither can we. We only get if from one source, our Creator, He alone holds the blueprint for our life.

   Paul further states “I have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead”.

   Paul didn’t literally forget his past, but he turned his back on his old way of life to face the future. He left behind things that would take his focus away from Jesus or keep him from his purpose.

   Like Paul, in Jesus, we have a new future. Yet our past was not in vain; it is now our testimony of God’s grace for what He has done. God can use the bad in our past for good in our future.

   Consider Paul, he called himself a chief of sinners, and he went on to write a good chunk of the New Testament.

   If your like Paul saying, I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing but I want to run with passion into God’s abundance so that I may reach the purpose that he has called me to fulfill and I want to discover it…..today  is a good time to begin that discovery.

   Let’s raise the bar of our expectation.