We have been looking at Paul91色情片 life and examining what it means to have a godly ambition. Last time we saw the聽height聽of Paul91色情片 ambition鈥攖he fact that he had the highest possible goal: pleasing God. But his ambition didn鈥檛 only go as high as possible; it went as聽wide聽as possible, too. Let me explain what this means by looking again at Paul91色情片 words to the Corinthians:
Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. ()
Paul91色情片 ambition spans two contexts: 鈥渨hether at home or absent.鈥 To understand what he means by this, we have to look back at the context of this verse:
Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord鈥攆or we walk by faith, not by sight鈥攚e are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. ()
When Paul says, 鈥渨hether at home or absent,鈥 he means, 鈥渨hether I am alive or dead.鈥 In other words, Paul is declaring that the ambition he has in life will be the same one that he has after he dies. His ambition is wide, covering both his present state and his eternal state.
Paul understood something that we so often forget: It is foolish to entertain ambitions now that we will have to sacrifice when we die. It is foolish to think, 鈥淲hile I鈥檓 here I鈥檓 going to try to make as much money as I can, or try to get up the corporate ladder as fast as I can, or gather as much power and influence as I possibly can,鈥 when we will ultimately have to give up those goals for a higher one. God may give us power and influence and money in this life, but the goal of this life should not be to earn those things. Our goal now should be the same as our goal will be in eternity: to please God.
When we are in heaven, we certainly won鈥檛 be consumed with pleasing men. And we certainly won鈥檛 be consumed with pleasing ourselves, either. In perfect righteousness, with perfect joy and perfect peace, we will live to the pleasure of God forever, who Himself will ever live for our pleasure. As Paul says elsewhere, 鈥淔or if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord91色情片鈥 ().
Our aim should be continuity between this life and the next. There will be no liars in heaven鈥攕o why should we lie now? There will be no adulterers in heaven鈥攕o why should we be immoral now? There will be nothing unclean in heaven鈥攕o why should we entertain impurity now?
Paul understood that having a godly ambition meant living our lives now in the same way we will in heaven. That is why he says this in聽:
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ()
This is a very interesting statement. Paul is telling us that the goal of life here is 鈥渢he prize of the upward call.鈥 What does he mean by that?
Ask yourself this. When we are called up, what will be our prize? What are we going to get when we get to heaven? When you think about heaven, what do you find most glorious about it? The gold streets and pearl gates? As nice as those will be, the best part of heaven will be this: 鈥淲e will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is鈥 ().
The joy of heaven will be our perfected Christlikeness, and the goal of Paul91色情片 life is to attain this prize. So we see that Paul doesn鈥檛 have any objective in life other than the reality of eternity. Paul was chosen and saved for the purpose of being conformed to the image of Christ (). This objective, predestined by God, became Paul91色情片 objective in life. And because of this, Paul91色情片 life had perfect continuity. He lived his whole life to become like Jesus Christ, and when he died, he entered an eternity where he will continue to reflect Christ forever.
So, we have seen that the height of Paul91色情片 ambition is to please God and the breadth of his ambition is to have absolute continuity between time and eternity in the way he lives his life. Next time, we will look at one final aspect of Paul91色情片 ambition: that he strove in light of the coming judgment.
This blog post is based on a sermon by Dr. MacArthur. You can learn more about TMU at .

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