From the Pastor’s Desk…                                        September 2024   

On your mark, get set, ready and go! It seems this phrase has been played over and over
again throughout my life, for as long as I can remember. We are often encouraged to set
goals, and once attained, to set more
goals. Beginning with our childhoods, 
the mark is always being moved: first,
graduate from high school, maybe attend college, get a good job, get married, have kids, look to retirement, etc., etc., etc…and the assumption is that life will get better with each milestone reached. How has this worked for you? 

In his letters to churches across the kingdom, the apostle Paul addresses this very concern multiple times, and in multiple ways. If you haven’t read his letters – the Epistles – I encourage you to take some time and begin reading them. And I would definitely encourage you to read the book of Acts first. Paul has a way of calling us out “for missing the prize.” We spend so much time looking back, maybe even regretting our decisions and
choices, and discounting our accomplishments. And when we do look ahead, our sights are too focused on society’s expectations of who we should be, and what we should have attained at our stage of life. By doing this, we miss the prize!

In his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul writes…

“Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but
I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I
do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to see what lies ahead,
I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in
Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and
if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only
let us hold fast to what we have attained.”

Paul isn’t speaking to our everyday lives as people but rather is speaking to our lives
as Christians. Being a Christian is not easy; in fact, it is extremely difficult at times.
His words teach us that every man has a purpose in and through Christ Jesus; and
that every man should live their life reaching for that purpose to which God has
called them. Paul charges us with forgetting what we’ve done in the past and
remember only what we still have to do.

For me, at the end of the day, a Christian life is
the life of an athlete pressing onwards to a goal
which is always in front. If we are mature in our
faith, we must recognize the discipline and the
effort and the agony of the Christian life. Living
life first and foremost as a Christian, and not
what others think we should, will help determine
everything else. Our past is our past, and we
should always honor that part of our lives; and at
the same time, we should always be striving to
look ahead. As Paul saw it, the Christian is an
athlete of Christ Jesus.

Personally I think the phrase… “on your mark,
get set, ready and go!” should be our mantra for
living our lives as followers of Christ Jesus, too.
It’s already a part of who we are… we might as well take it to the end. And let the past be simply that…the past because we have so much to look forward to. The goal
has been set; the prize awaits all of us; and we can’t do it on our own.

“May we press on towards the goal for the prize
of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

God’s Blessings and Peace 

Pastor Neil

Pastor Neil’s Office Hours

Tuesday-Wednesday 10:00 am – 3:00 pm