Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.
Relationships or Goals?
Perhaps you’ve read somewhere that men tend to be goal-oriented and women tend to be relationship-oriented. Maybe you are not one or the other, or maybe you are a mixture of both. Are you more focused on goals or relationships? Which do you think is more valuable or important? Which matters the most to God?
Think of the apostle Paul. Which was he? If you read Philippians 3, you will read about the goal after which the Apostle Paul was following. In verse 14 Paul says, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” It sounds as if Paul was definitely goal-driven. Paul was definitely not passive. He was always on the go.
And yet, Paul’s emphasis here is not upon his performance but upon his dependence. In verse 10, Paul says, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” The goal Paul was pursuing was his relationship with the Lord Jesus. His goal was to know Christ better and to follow Him more closely. His goal was not so much to do more for God, but to allow God to do everything He intended through the life of Paul. What is most important is not so much what we do for God; it is what we allow God to do through us.
We should set goals and go after them, but our primary goal should be a closer relationship with the Lord Jesus. Paul forgot the past, both the successes and the failures, and he actively pursued the future and a growing relationship with the Lord Jesus. When we do that, we make a relationship with Him the priority. Then the things that we accomplish are the result of our dependence upon Jesus, and not merely the result of our own performance.