THE ABOVE CALLING
The prize spoken of in Philippians 3:14 is the prize of God’s above calling (Gk.). God is in the heavens calling us. Not only has He called us, but He continues to call us. Furthermore, as we run the race and pursue toward the goal, the angels are cheering us on. What an impressive picture this is!
If we mean business with the Lord, we must be a persecutor of Christ. All the lovers of Jesus should be His persecutors. We should say, "Lord Jesus, because I love You, I shall persecute You until I persuade You to be for me." The Lord Jesus appreciates this. For example, any husband would like his wife to be such a loving persecutor. Suppose a wife would say to her husband, "I shall persecute you until you stay home with me so that I can love you. l love you, and I don’t want to lose your presence. You must stay home to enjoy my love." Surely any husband would appreciate such a wife. This is the best way to love the Lord and to seek Him. We should say, "Lord, even if You want to go, I will not let You go. You must stay with me." The seeker in Song of Songs persecuted the Lord in this way. Even if He had begged her to let Him go, she would have refused. May we all persecute the Lord in this way!
THINKING ONE THING
Verse 15 says, "Let us therefore, as many as are full grown, think this: and if anything otherwise ye think, God shall reveal also this unto you" (Gk.). We should not think other things, but just think this one thing. This one thing is to experience Christ. Regardless of what stage of life we are in, we all should think this one thing, that is, to pursue Christ to the uttermost.
WALKING BY THE SAME RULE
Verse 16 continues, "Only this: whereto we have attained, let us walk by the same rule" (Gk.). Even those who are young and not yet full grown should walk by the same rule. Some may think that Paul here is very domineering and speaks like a dictator, even telling the saints what to think. He says that whether they are young or old, experienced or inexperienced, they need to walk by the same rule. This verse should be read in the light of chapter two, verse 2, which says, "Make my joy full, that ye think the same thing, having the same love, one in soul, thinking the one thing" (Gk.). Furthermore, in Philippians 4:2 Paul says, "I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, to think the same thing in the Lord" (Gk.). The trouble among today’s Christians is that nearly everyone thinks a different thing. It is difficult to find one great preacher who works together with another. On the contrary, each one has his own empire and thinks and speaks his own thing. This is the reason that there is nothing but division and confusion in Christianity today. We must not repeat the history of Christianity. The way to be kept from such a sad repetition is to think the one thing. The one thing that we are to think is revealed in Philippians 3:7-15: It is Christ as our experience, enjoyment, goal, and prize.
(The Experience of Christ, Chapter 20, by Witness Lee)
