Knowing the Banana: part 4

Phil 3:12-16
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, 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.
15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
NIV
Finally, we have reached the end of the banana. Not that I haven't enjoyed every minute of it, but now we can see the peak of this mountain. Paul makes it clear that even he hasn't got it all yet but that isn't going to slow him down. His intention is to apprehend what Jesus called him to apprehend. He is coming back to the first point he made that I pointed to in part 1. He is going to forget everything behind and go after the goal.
First of all he isn't just forgetting what God has done for him but he is leaving the "burning bush" and he is running toward the "Mount Sinai." (If Moses hadn't left the bush he would have never experienced the mountain). He isn't just walking toward it either; this is his total consuming focus in life. He is "straining toward" and "pressing on" to know Christ.
What is the goal? What is the prize? It is the knowledge of Christ and the becoming like Him. Look at what Jesus said:
John 17:3-4
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
NIV
We would be wise to follow Paul's example to strive to know God this way; every way. God's desire is to reveal Himself to us in every way. Eternal life begins with the knowledge of God. Our perfection comes when we, like Christ, only do what we see our Father in heaven doing. Jesus paid to make this impossibility possible. The key here is that Paul says it takes maturity to see this and he even goes as far as to say that is the way the mature should view life.
Ultimately it is God that brings us to this understanding only through a relationship and time spent with Him. Paul makes a dramatic statement that derails all religious regulations when he says "only let us live up to what we have already attained." In other words, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. What God, through a relationship with Him, has revealed to us and the convictions He has established in our lives is the law written on our hearts and we are required to live up to that which we have attained. Take note of this scripture:
Gal 5:16
I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
NIV
I believe the whole Book and when it says here that I will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature when I walk with God, led by His Spirit, I believe it. And that is a whole other book so I will end with this. If you focus on sin or not sinning you will sin. If you focus on God you won't.
Rom 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
NIV
Just enjoy the banana and God will handle the rest!
God bless!