Reaching yet?

Yet, my brothers, I do not consider myself to have “arrived”, spiritually, nor do I consider myself already perfect. But I keep going on, grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasped me. My brothers, I do not consider myself to have fully grasped it even now. But I do concentrate on this: I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal—my reward the honor of being called by God in Christ. (Philippians 3:14)

It probably comes as no surprise to some of us that goals get set and then somewhere down the line, they get 'unset' or 'unrecognized'. Some will have been too lofty or unrealistic, so we set smaller ones. Others will simply have been reliant upon someone else to do their part and since they didn't, we had to abandon them. Either way, the goals didn't end in the results we had hoped for. What do we do when what we had planned doesn't work out as we expected it to in the end? We might find that leaving all that striving in the past is probably not our first response to failure. In fact, the vast majority of us would admit to either being unwilling to let go or lowering our expectations to whatever level was 'achievable'. 

The goal gives us an aim. We set out in a certain direction because that is the direction of the goal. When we don't find ourselves realizing that goal quickly, we can become discouraged. Spiritual goals are no less challenging. We might want to develop a solid prayer life, continually lifting needs before God, intervening in prayer for those who we come to know and care about. We could desire a deeper walk with Jesus, imagining that reading through our Bible in a year will be answer to that goal. Sometimes the goals we set help us aim correctly, but the 'loftiness' of those spiritual goals isn't fully recognized at the onset. When the aim is right, but the strength to pursue the goal through thick and thin isn't quite as 'solid' as we'd imagined it would be, we can abandon our spiritual goals, as well.

God's insight is given to us in this passage. We should never consider ourselves to have 'arrived', even if we meet some goal along the way. The journey is ever-expanding, with new goals set before us as we go. The importance of 'going' is stressed. We leave behind what should stay in the past, leaning into what lies ahead. Hands outstretched expresses a bit of 'unsteadiness' on our part - we are reaching for God's assist in realizing the goal. No spiritual goal is ever realized in our own power, and it isn't possible until we let go of what should remain in the past. When we have outstretched hands, they aren't filled - they are reaching. Just sayin!