Daily Devotion

May 31, 2013

How to Graduate with Highest Honors (3)


“I press on to…receive the heavenly prize.” Php 3:14 NLT

By living a focused life. Great achievers stay focused on their goal. They are so single-minded that they are often considered fanatics. They filter out the extraneous and hone in on their target like a laser, while all around them others live lives cluttered with much-talked-about projects that never get off the ground. Paul’s calling was his life’s obsession. “I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God …is calling” (vv. 13-14 NLT). It so preoccupied him that all other interests paled into insignificance. He permitted nothing and no one to sidetrack him from winning. He wrote: “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1Ti 6:12 NIV). He knew it wasn’t enough to be strong in faith, you must also be strong in “fight.” Sometimes fear, criticism and past failure dictate our direction and we drift aimlessly through our days. The future encroaches on us, looking more like the past. We “oil the wheels that squeak the loudest,” hoping for life to favor us. But it doesn’t work! Graduation with highest honors takes: (1) Focus. And focus doesn’t just happen, you must direct it. (2) Single focus. “I focus on this one thing.” (3) Forgetting past failures. (4) Intense anticipation of future success. “Looking forward to what lies ahead.” (5) A full-court press. “I press on to reach the end of the race.” Take these steps, and you too will graduate with highest honors.

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