Monday Devotional: March 31, 2025

Bible Reading: Philippians 3:13-14(NRSVUE)

¹³ Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Throughout many years of teaching young musicians and working with church choirs, I have always reinforced a theme: Recovery is everything! There is no perfect performance; there is no perfect race. We as human beings will have setbacks and stumbles. How we handle those setbacks is the most important thing. Think on your feet and think quickly!

We are going to stumble on this journey, but how we recover makes all the difference! We can collapse, or we can choose to do some fancy footwork, regain our balance, and dance on! Everyone knows if we collapse, but few realize we have stumbled if we come up with fancy footwork and move on toward the goal.

Paul himself notes that he has not won the race or reached the goal: “I do not consider that I have made it my own.” But he still strives and presses forward. Yet he, like us, can acknowledge that we need not run anxiously, for the end is assured. We know the outcome. In this race, everyone wins because Christ had made us his own. Circumstances may offer the opportunity to take a step back. Obstacles will appear along the pathway, but we simply press on.

When challenges arise and seemingly impede our progress toward being the hands and feet of Christ and responding to his calling on our lives, we tie up our laces and continue to press on “toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Prayer

Mighty God, I pray for wisdom and stamina to turn my stumbles into dances as I strive toward the prize of your call in Christ Jesus. Amen.

By Kathy Evans, The Upper Room Disciplines 2016, page 95.