Jesus is the Mark we press towards

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:14 KJV)

I live in a farming community and many of them come from a long line of farmers who have worked the same  land for many generations, long before modern tractors. In fact, many still have horse-pulled plows stored in their barns and they still know how to use them. Once a year they have a plowing match and compete to see who can make the straightest, most perfect, plowed furrow. Among them is a farmer who has won the match consistently, year after year. When a reporter asked him what his secret was, he said, “The secret is to never take your eyes off the flag that is planted at the end of the row. If you do that, your row will always be perfectly straight, every time.” The flag, he was keeping his eye on, is a great illustration. It is like the “mark” that the apostle Paul was talking about in the passage at top, that he was pressing toward, “I press toward the mark for prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” If we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, our spiritual paths will be kept straight.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith

“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:12 NIV)

Look directly forward

“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.” (Prov. 4:25 ESV)

At the things which are not seen

 “...while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.“ (2 Cor. 4:18 NASB)