Dear Friends,
New beginnings often inspire us to set new goals, make resolutions for a new year. We might resolve to spend more time in the Scriptures and in prayer; determine to lose some weight; do what is necessary to improve our health; spend more quality time with family and friends; take more steps to improve financial status, etc.
The first recorded Olympic contest took place in the Stadium of Olympia in Greece in 776B.C. In the beginning the only event was a footrace of about 180 meters. Over time many other competitions were added: the Pentathlon consisting of the discus throw, javelin throw, long jump, a sprint, and wrestling. Boxing followed, and by 680 B.C. the four-horse chariot race was added. Of course, many more have been added to the modern Olympic Games, such as skating, skiing, swimming, etc.
The Apostle Paul, being familiar with the Olympic Games, wrote about goals, using the analogies of running a race, or contending in a boxing ring. He knew that anyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. And they do it to receive a corruptible crown, or perishable wreathe, that soon fades. He was after an incorruptible, imperishable crown.
Paul ran, not being in any doubt as to his goal. He did not claim to have already won the race, or already reached perfection, but he said, “I press on, if that I may lay hold on the prize for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus…..I count not myself yet to have laid hold, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the goal, unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus…..” “That is how I run, not being in any doubt as to my goal. I am a boxer who does not beat the air, but I buffet my body and bring it under control. Having preached to others, I myself do not want to fall short of the goal.”
What was the goal to which he referred? It was to receive the “prize of the high calling of God…..to know Christ and the power of His resurrection,” and to attain to his own resurrection from among the dead.
Paul admonished his readers to forget the past – the disappointments, the mistakes, the failures, the hurts and injustices – and to stretch forward to all that lay before them, with their eyes fixed on the goal of (experientially) knowing Christ.
“Therefore,” he wrote to the church at Philippi, “let all of us who are mature believers cherish these thoughts…..And at whatever point we have already reached, continue to persevere in the same course.” May this be our goal for this New Year. (1 Cor. 9:24-27; Phil. 3:10-16)
The words of the following lovely old hymn express beautifully the thought that “My Goal is God Himself.” After a considerable amount of research, I discovered that it was authored by Frederick Charles Brook who was killed in Europe in World War 1. His name may be found on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing near Passchendaele, in Belgium. This may be the only poem he wrote or,
at least one of the very few, as I could find no others.
My goal is God Himself; not joy, nor peace,
Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God;
’Tis His to lead me there – not mine, but His—
‘At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.’
So faith bounds forward to its goal in God,
And love can trust her Lord to lead her there;
Upheld by Him, my soul is following hard
Till God hath full fulfilled my deepest prayer.
No matter if the way be sometimes dark,
No matter though the cost be oft-times great,
He knoweth how I best shall reach the mark;
The way that leads to Him must needs be straight.
One thing I know—I cannot say Him nay;
One thing I do—I press toward my Lord;
My God, my glory here, from day to day,
And in the glory there my great Reward.
– Hymn by Frederick Charles Brook
Now may the God of HOPE
fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that you may abound in HOPE
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
(Romans 15:13, NKJV)
In Agape, Eulene
Letters of Hope 