The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14, “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark….”
What is that mark? At first, we may think it is the finish line and we should press toward the end, but I happen to believe it goes beyond that. Pressing toward this mark involves discovering and following the path God has chosen for us. The Lord says in Isaiah 30:21, “This is the way, walk ye in it….”
When I was young and robust, I ran track and played football. I preferred sprints to distance races, but I did run some distance races. In those, we all had a certain lane we had to stay in. The track was laid out to make certain that each runner was running the same distance. You had to stay in your lane, you had to follow your assigned place, and you had to watch that mark. If you stepped across that mark, you could be disqualified.
With that in mind, consider this verse again,
“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
What is the high calling?