What Is My Goal?

When I was young there were a number of incentives to encourage weekly church and Sunday School attendance.  One I distinctly remember was a perfect attendance pin.  Go to Sunday School every week for a year and get a pin.  For the second year, get a little bar that hung below the pin, and so on.

Many years later I heard a song that was a parody of the perfect attendance pin.  I don’t remember the entire song, that was sung to the tune of “My Grandfather’s Clock”, but one line went, “…my Sunday School pin…for it hung all the way to the floor.”

Paul’s litany of his Hebrew credentials in Philippians 3:4-6 reminds me of that pin.  Paul was not bragging about his background in order to puff himself up (certainly not after just quoting the hymn about Jesus emptying Himself of His glory and humbling Himself by being made in the nature of a human).  Rather, Paul was criticizing those who would puff up themselves for their Jewishness and who would look down on others who did not have the Jewish credentials they had adopted.  

The self-mutilating “dogs” referred to in Philippians 3 supposed that accumulating the credentials of Judaism would give them a kind of righteousness.

Paul had it all, but gave it up for the righteousness that comes from God through faith in Christ.  In his way Paul took off his multi-year perfect attendance Sunday School pin and threw it in the trash.  He put on the mantle of righteousness that is by God’s grace, not his own works or inheritance.

I am intrigued by a few verses in this chapter that I memorized a long time ago: verse 10 and verses 13-14.  

The latter verses first—Paul admits that he has not yet reached his goal.  So, he strains toward the finish line to win the prize of eternal life with Jesus Christ in heaven.  He’s not saying that his works will get him there.  He’s already discarded that as an option.  But Paul knows that the Christian life is not just a one-time decision and a sit-down-and-rest ride to heaven.  It is, like marriage, a one-time vow followed by a lifelong relationship that needs constant attention.  Is there a husband or a wife who can honestly say, “Whew, I’ve made it.  I don’t need to work on my marriage any more.”?

It is in verse 10, though, that the goal is specifically described, and upon closer examination it is shocking.  

“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”  (Phil. 3:10 NIV)

Paul mentions five aspects of his goal.  The first, second, and the last parts are something everyone could identify with—to know Christ, to know the power of Christ’s resurrection, and to attain to the resurrection of the dead himself.

But the fourth and fifth aspects are the shocking parts.  Did Paul really say, and mean, that he wanted to know the fellowship of sharing in Christ’s sufferings?  Did he really want to become like Christ in His death?

I think it would be wonderful to have such an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ that I could say, “I know Christ.  It would be exciting to know and use the same power that raised Christ from the dead; and it is indeed the ultimate goal of every Christian to be raised from the dead and be with Christ in heaven.

But when I closely examine my own heart, I can’t honestly say that I get up in the morning and say, “Lord, I want to participate in suffering with you today.”  Nor can I honestly say I am eager to become like Jesus in His death.  Not even if I move that word “death” from its natural and physical meaning to a spiritual one—that I’m eager to die to my own desires, goals, and ambitions in order to live out my life 100% for Christ.

Come to think of it, what is my goal for my life—or for each day for that matter?  

Perhaps it’s time for me to take off my own “Sunday School pin” and adopt a goal that is worthy—one to which I can enthusiastically commit my whole life.