Keep the prize in mind.

Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

I was watching a National Geographic documentary on A&E last night about a religious festival in Japan. Every year, the town elects a "spirit man" to serve as a sacrifice to atone for all the evil spirits of the town. All the town's men gather in the town square outside the temple and they are dressed in what looked like the sumo wrestler outfits. The spirit man is let loose naked about three hundred yards from the temple where all of the towns men get enbrawled in a mosh pit trying to touch the spirit man. The objective of more than a thousand men is to pass on all the sins and evil spirits of their families onto the spirit man.

After a near death experience the spirit man could barely stand up from exhaustion, priest carry him through several "cleansing" rituals to finaly provide atonement for the whole town. Days later the spirit man who is now back to being just an ordinary man, is recounting all his bruces and wounds he took.

In today's verse, Paul could have recounted many more wounds as he did in other verses and epistles but he talks about pressing forward toward the prize. It's quite a different picture because Paul's wounds were never to provide atonement for himself or others. Instead, his wounds were for the prospering of the Gospel, for letting people know if the work that has already been done by the Son of God.

We have been annointed to proclaim the good news of the ressurection and victory by Christ Jesus . The wounds we receive from carrying out this message are not for securing our salvation but they serve as marks of obedience which make us stronger in our daily race toward the prize.

So when you are tired, weary and wounded, are you so because you are fighting to save yourself? Or do you keep the prize in mind knowing that pressing on is worthy no matter the circumstances?