Read: Philippians 3:10-14

Today’s Scripture:  ^“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3:12).

“Slow and steady wins the race.” Or so the popular saying goes, derived from the familiar tale “The Tortoise and the Hare.” In the tale, as you may know, the Tortoise challenges the Hare to a race he can’t possibly win. The Tortoise won the race when the Hare, thinking he would rub in the victory by taking a little nap, overslept and was surpassed by the Tortoise.

While the Tortoise kept a slow and steady pace, there’s something else I would like to point out about his strategy: He pressed on. He knew what was his goal was, and he kept working toward it.

The Hare, on the other hand, became content where he was. He knew he had the talent to win the race, but he chose not to utilize that talent to the fullest. He thought the victory was his, and so he stopped pressing on toward the goal.

When we get content where we are, we stop pressing on. When we think we’ve “arrived” in our relationship with God — when we think we’re already close enough to Him — we stop growing.

Sure, the Hare managed to finish the race, but he missed his opportunity to use his talents to the fullest.

Even the apostle Paul knew he had room to grow. His desire was to know Christ. It wasn’t that he didn’t already know Him, but there was still an opportunity for him to know Him more intimately. If Paul were to become content in where he was in his relationship with Christ, he would miss that opportunity to grow deeper. And from that missed opportunity in his relationship, his ministry would likely suffer as well.

God is infinite. He is beyond anything that we could ever imagine. He isn’t confined to our human understanding. With that said, there is always an opportunity to know Him more intimately, to grow closer to Him. We, in that human understanding, could never fully search Him out.

And so, we keep pressing on. We keep seeking to deepen our relationship with God. We keep pressing on in our ministries, seeking to better ourselves, with God’s help, for the benefit of those we minister to. We don’t let ourselves become content where we are so that we don’t miss opportunities to know God more intimately or to reach out to others.

Jesus “took hold of us” first. He showed us His love first. He made a way for us to be made right with God first. And because He took hold of us first, we press on to take hold of our goal. We press on to know Christ more intimately. We press on to grow our ministries.

Keep pressing on. Keep reaching toward your goals. Keep seeking to know Christ more and more. And see where the newfound depth in your relationship with Him takes you.

Today’s Thoughts: How can you keep pressing on in your relationship with God? How about in your ministry to others? What could your relationship with God look like if you keep pressing on?

[Today’s devotion on growing in your relationship with God is from the Weekend Word devotional series. Come back every Saturday for fresh insights from God’s Word, or follow my blog via email or WordPress to get my content sent straight to your inbox.]