Where Is Your Ultimate Prize?

Pastor John has asked us to pray for three specific items (see post below), the first of which is asking God to make our priorities His priorities, that is, valuing His glory above our own private pursuits.

The Colossian church had some of this going on, and therefore, Paul gives thanks to the only One who is able to make this happen, namely, God Himelf: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel . . .” (Colossians 1:3-5 ESV).

Notice where the faith and love are rooted: “because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.” No wonder Paul exhorts this church two chapters later to “seek” and “set [their] minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1-2 ESV).

This line of thinking was prompted by something I read about William Wilberforce, the British Abolitionist of the 18th century:

Wilberforce knew his prize awaited him in heaven, and so he was free to spend himself entirely on earth for God’s work. Where is your ultimate prize? You prize something the most. You can figure out what it is by asking what you spend all your physical, financial, social, and mental resources trying to build, protect, or accomplish. What is it? Is your life increasingly lining up with the great promise of the Scriptures [enjoying the glory of God in heaven forever]—or with something else?*”

*Quoted from Mark Dever, The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006), 44.