In Acts 1:4, Jesus tells those who had assembled with Him before His ascension to return to Jerusalem and “wait for the Promise of the Father.” They followed His instructions and returned to the upper room and tarried there. Acts 1:14 says, “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”

Last week, we looked at Philippians 3:12-14 and established that Paul compares our spiritual life to a Greek foot race. We discovered that our spiritual goal is to be increasingly transformed into the likeness of Christ Jesus (see 2 Corinthians 3:18) and that we must tenaciously lay hold of that goal. We must hold insistently to that goal and not allow our spiritual lives to slip into neutral. So what other directions does Paul give us to ensure our spiritual victory? In verse 13-14, we read, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

I have always been one of those people who loved school, but there was one class that I hated. Yes, hate is a strong word, but from kindergarten through college this class was at the top of my list, right before mathematics. For many, this was a cake class, but alas, not for me. The dreaded class was physical education (P.E.). Why you may ask, other than the fact that I am completely uncoordinated, did I have such disdain for this class? Well, the truth is that I really dislike running and I detest sweating. In fact, I pretty much boycott the Summer Olympics because it pains me to watch the athletes sweat. You get the picture, right?