Maximizing Potential

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14

During the recent World Cup, it was interesting to watch some of the teams play.  Well, as we all know a soccer team wins a match by simply scoring more goals than their opponent during the regulation of 90 minutes of play (or during any subsequent extra time/ or penalty shootout).

Achieving this requires a delicate balance of tactics, physical fitness, psychological resilience, and converting high-probability chances efficiently. Winning teams often maximize their shot efficiency. Maintaining focus under pressure, recovering from setbacks (like after conceding an early goal), and possessing the composure to make quick decisions in the final minutes. All the teams that participated initially met the  requirements in order to qualify for the competition. So, every team had the potential to win no matter where they came from! They all needed to be resilient, bounce back, recover, or adapt quickly after facing difficulty, stress, or hardship during the game. Based on these and perhaps other factors only one of the teams was bound to win the famous trophy based on their final performance!

Well, how is this related to our Christian walk?  Paul uses the “goal” as a metaphor for our faith in God.  He encourages believers to relentlessly focus on spiritual maturity and their ultimate heavenly destination in Christ.  The ultimate goal reward being heaven and that faithful service will be rewarded. The exciting thing is that everyone has the choice to join the team once they have made a decision to have an ongoing relationship with God. This is the primary qualification, we are then enlisted in this race and rewards are available to everyone in this race.  Our primary goal being to know Jesus Christ and become like Him daily. These should be truly a great encouragement for all believers!

Every team had supporters and they were loud, dressed up for their team and focused on One Thing - winning!  What if we believers cheered our fellow believers a little bit more! Paul reminds us who we are: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20. Shouldn’t Christians be much more excited about this? Ours is for the “eternal” purpose and destination! We are not enlisted in this race to perform but to be real and faithful in our daily walk!  We have so much more to celebrate because it will be endless!

Pray your response to the Lord personally, meaningfully and genuinely.

Reflect:

To be able to maintain and maximize your relationship with Christ what do you need to do daily? 

Soccer teams on the field put on their best performance for a particular period and now history. But ours is for an eternal perspective.

Our faith in God is not for performance but real and for the glory of God!