Pressing On

At the deepest level, my faith gives me direction in life. If I’m going to spend eternity in the next world, why wouldn’t my life in this world be directed towards that? I used to love Pressing On by Bob Dylan back in the summer of 1980. That became my focus from that point on.

Philippians 3:12-14
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. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

It’s interesting, because Paul already knew that he was heaven-bound. Christ had taken hold of the prize for him. Yet this passage suggests thas he’s in some kind of a race that he’s trying to win. But I don’t think he’s contradicting himself. For example, if an angel appeared to me and told me that I’d win a race that I was about to enter, knowing that I’d win wouldn’t stop me from running as fast as I can. It would motivate me to take delight in running.

Wouldn’t it be silly to just stop at the start line and not bother running because I’d know I was gonna win? Surely knowing that I was gonna win would give me a sense of exhilaration as I ran the great race. Here’s another statement that Paul made towards the end of his earthly life:

2 Timothy 4:6-8
⁶ For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Of course, I have had other things that gave me a sense of direction throughout my life. As a young child, I always wanted to be older, so I’d look forward to my birthday. As a teenager, I started thinking about careers and who I’m gonna marry. And when I started working, I always had goals. Often the goal was trying to get another job or begin another career 😀.

So, where am I now? Retired. As I said, faith is the main thing that gives me direction. I don’t just wanna get to heaven myself. I wanna bring as many people as possible with me – or at least, point them to Jesus, who’ll welcome them into His kingdom if they repent and believe in Him. These days, I spend a lot of time reflecting on the past. So many people pop into my head. Some I knew well – others I just knew to see. But I often immediately pray for them. I want to see them all in heaven. I even feel like that about the old punk groups that I used to idolize back in the late 1970s.

I can think of many minor things that give me direction. I’m always keen to learn and progress. I still have an interest in the subject matter of my various careers, and I’ve always enjoyed playing musical instruments. I wish I could write some decent songs or even hymns. I think of people like Charles Wesley who wrote 1,000s of hymns. I can’t even write a single one. But maybe I can try. That would give me some direction in life 😀.

Here are a few of my favourite Charles Wesley hymns:

Maybe a time will come when people will post my hymns – but maybe I won’t write any. Jesus invites everyone into His kingdom, not just exceptionally good people or exceptionally gifted people. You even see Paul making reference to this in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 1:26-28
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him

Of course, Paul Himself hardly fell into the “lowly” category, but perhaps I do. But I’m sure I’ll write some great hymns when I get to heaven.