Philippians 3:12–4:1

Running towards the Goal

¹²I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself. ¹³Of course, my brothers and sisters, I really do not^e think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead. ¹⁴So I run straight towards the goal in order to win the prize, which is God’s call through Christ Jesus to the life above.

¹⁵All of us who are spiritually mature should have this same attitude. But if some of you have a different attitude, God will make this clear to you. ¹⁶However that may be, let us go forward according to the same rules we have followed until now.

^17*Keep on imitating me, my brothers and sisters. Pay attention to those who follow the right example that we have set for you. ¹⁸I have told you this many times before, and now I repeat it with tears: there are many whose lives make them enemies of Christ’s death on the cross. ¹⁹They are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world. ²⁰We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. ²¹He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule.

Instructions

4So then, my brothers and sisters, how dear you are to me and how I miss you! How happy you make me, and how proud I am of you! This then, dear brothers and sisters, is how you should stand firm in your life in the Lord.