Make God’s aim your aim

Philippians 3:13-14

            The apostle here is letting us see the secret of his own life and telling us what made him the sort of Christian that he was. He counsels wise obviousness, wise anticipation, strenuous concentration; and these are the things that contribute to success in any field of life.

1.      The example of Paul.

a.       The testimony of the immediate context. He regards the aim towards which he strains as being the aim which Christ had in view in his conversion (Verse 12-13).

b.      The summary of the teaching of the immediate context. He took God’s purpose in calling and Christ purpose in redeeming him as being his great object in life. God’s aim and Paul’s were identical.

2.      God’s aim

a.       The aim stated. What then, is the aim of God in all that He had done for us? The production in us of God like and God pleasing character.

b.      The importance of the aim. For this all the discipline of life is set in motion. For this we were created; for this we have been redeemed. For this Jesus Christ lived, suffered, and died. For this God’s Spirit is poured out upon the world.

3.      The result of the acceptance of God’s aim

a.       It changes man’s estimate of the meaning and true nature of events. It will give nobleness and blessedness to our lives. How different all our estimates of the meaning and true nature of events would be, if we kept before us that their intention was to mold us to the likeness of our Lord and Savior.

b.      It changes a man’s estimate of nearer objects and aims. Men take these great powers which God has given them and use them to make money, to cultivate their intellects, to secure the gratification of earthly desires, to make a home for themselves; and all the while the great aim which ought to stand out clear and supreme in forgotten.