As the adage says, in with the new and out with the old. Yes, we’re entering a new year, 2023. Last year will soon be a relish, a memory. For some, 2022 was horrible, with many awful memories. Others will consider it somewhere between incredible and not too bad. Regardless of where you are on this spectrum, 2023 is coming or is already here by the time you read this blog.
Every year, Christians try to predict what the new year will bring. Many will name the new year based on what they believe it’ll bring. For instance, some might say, “2023 will be the year to get free!” It’s desirable, even advisable, to seek God for wisdom about the future. He promises to give us insight and wisdom about the future.
Yet, regardless of what He shows us, As Paul said, we must do this one thing, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Here Paul advises us to forget 2022. It’s over.
Now that 2022 is in the rearview mirror remember 2023 will be what you make it. The ebb and flow of 2023 will bring challenges and opportunities, as every year does. Sometimes the most significant challenges create the best opportunities. But whether we seize the opportunities or buckle to the difficulties depends on us. I want to draw from Paul’s wisdom in Phil. 3:12-14 and offer the one thing that’ll help us seize the opportunities despite the inevitable challenges 2023 will bring.
What is that one thing Paul did that we must do? He pressed toward the mark for the prize of God’s high calling in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14. Let’s probe this Scripture. First, Paul said he pressed. The Greek word is dioko, which means to pursue, chase, run behind, and hunt. This word tells us Paul was chasing and hunting something. What was he chasing?
Paul doesn’t make us wonder what precisely he was chasing; it was a prize. The Greek word for prize is brabeion, translated as the reward for winning a contest. In the NFL, those 32 teams are chasing the Lombardi Trophy. All their efforts are aimed at obtaining the Lombardi Trophy. Think about that for a moment. The hours and hours they’ve invested in training their bodies and minds throughout their lifetimes is to hopefully receive a corruptible trophy so they can claim to be the best.
This exegesis raises the question—what prize should Christians be chasing in 2023? Is it more money, fame, respect, recognition, honor, and so forth? Let’s be honest; those are the prizes many Christians will chase in 2023. Nevertheless, the question remains, what prize should Christians chase or hunt in 2023?
Since Paul is our example, we should pursue what he pursued, i.e., the prize of God’s “high calling” in Christ Jesus. The Greek word for high is ano, translated upward or above. And the Greek word for call is Klesis. The translation of klesis is an official summons to share in something. Hence, God has summons us to hunt and share in something above and upward.
Now that we know God has called us to pursue and chase something above or upward, the question is, specifically what does God want us hunting? Paul tells us it’s Christ. He said the high calling of God “in Christ.” But before Paul said in verse 14 he was pursuing the prize of the high calling of God in Christ, he had already strongly asserted in verses 8-10 that winning Christ was what he truly valued in this earthly life and everything else was dung:
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.
Paul makes it clear he considered everything on earth worthless rubbish and dung. His focus was not on earthly things or achievements. His focus was on Christ, exclusively. He desired ONE achievement and had ONE goal, to win Christ. He hoped to be found in Christ. He desired to know Christ, including the power of Christ’s resurrection, and partake of Christ’s suffering. He also wanted to die for Christ.
If Paul lived today, the furthest thing from his mind would be obtaining earthly accolades, titles, possessions, and so on. He would be chasing one thing; the prize God gives to those who pursue Christ above. Following and imitating Paul, our hunt in life should be loving, knowing, following, chasing, winning, being found in, and conforming to Christ. That should be the ONE prize we pursue in 2023. Then regardless of what challenges 2023 brings, we will be winners. In other words, aim on knowing Christ better when 2023 ends.
