Press on toward the goal
The forward stretch
John Bunyan's great allegory followed a man named Christian on a long and perilous journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, the dwelling of God. Through swamps and valleys, past lions and giants, the pilgrim pressed on, because there was a destination, a city shining ahead, that made the whole hard road worth walking. The pilgrimage had an end, and the end was glory.
Paul writes with that same forward-leaning posture as he nears the end of his own race: I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Forgetting what lies behind, he says, and straining forward to what lies ahead. The whole long journey of formation we have traced is a pilgrimage with a destination, and this final stage lifts our eyes to it — the Celestial City toward which we press.
Notice the posture: forgetting what is behind, straining forward. The pilgrim does not stop to rest in past progress or wallow in past failures; both are released, and the whole self leans forward toward the goal. This is how to finish the journey well — not coasting, not looking back, but pressing on with everything in us toward the prize ahead. The destination is real, the city is shining, and we are nearer now than when we began. Press on toward the goal.
“I press on toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
— Paul, to the Philippians — Philippians 3:14 (WEB)
Lean forward toward the goal like a pilgrim nearing the city — forgetting what lies behind and straining toward the prize of the upward call.
“Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before.”
Two backward glances can steal a pilgrim's pace, and both feel like honesty: the failure we keep relitigating until shame becomes a hobby, and the progress we keep admiring until admiration becomes a chair. The interior work is to let both go in the same motion — to refuse the shame and decline the chair — and lean the whole self into the upward call, recognizing this road has a real end and we are nearer it than we know.
This week, recover the forward lean: name what behind you weighs you down — a failure to release or a progress to stop coasting on — let it go, and press on toward the goal with renewed purpose, as a pilgrim nearing the city.
Whatever keeps you facing backward has already half-won, whether it whispers you have failed too badly to bother or done well enough to slow down. Neither glance survives a soul that fixes on the city ahead and strains toward the prize, and the straining itself is how the race is finished.
The whole journey of formation we have traced is, in the end, a pilgrimage — a long road toward a destination, like Bunyan's Christian pressing on through every danger toward the Celestial City. This final stage lifts our eyes to the goal that has been ahead all along, and Paul shows us the posture for finishing well: I press on toward the goal, forgetting what is behind, straining forward to what is ahead.
There are two ways to lose that forward lean. We can wallow in past failures, letting them weigh us down, or rest on past progress, coasting as if we had already arrived. Paul releases both — forgetting what is behind — and leans the whole self forward toward the prize. This is how a pilgrim finishes the race: not looking back, not coasting, but pressing on with everything in us. The destination is real and the city is shining, and you are nearer now than when you began. Will you press on toward the goal?
- Am I wallowing in past failure or coasting on past progress?
- Have I lost the forward lean of a pilgrim nearing the city?
- What do I need to forget, and toward what do I need to press on?
Lord, I look backward, mired in past failures or resting on past progress, and lose my forward lean. Help me forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead, pressing on toward the goal, the prize of your upward call, as a pilgrim nearing the city. Amen.