V. All progress towards the highest Christian experience must be on the lines of real progress already made.—“Whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing” (ver. 16). Every victory over self and sin is a stepping-stone to further triumphs. The struggle of to-day will be the victory of to-morrow. Our most helpful lessons are gathered from our failures. Our present blessings were obtained through faith and labour; our next must be gained in the same way. God will give more light to the man who rightfully uses what he has. “When the morning bursts suddenly on one awakened out of sleep, it dazzles and pains him; but to him who, on his journey, has blessed the dawn and walked by its glimmer, the solar radiance brings with it a gradual and cheering influence.”

Lessons.—1. Christ is the sum and pattern of the highest good. 2. Progress in religious experience is a growing likeness to Christ. 3. The soul retains its highest enjoyment and power only in Christ.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 13. The Happy Day and its Sequel.

  1. St. Paul did not forget the circumstances of his arrest by Jesus.
  2. St. Paul’s remembrance of his arrest led to a practical inquiry as to its purpose.
  3. The purpose of his arrest by Christ Jesus is before and not behind him, even in his old age.
  4. What is the mark to which he presses onward?—1. A perfect likeness to Christ. 2. A perfect service. 3. The reward in heaven.—W. Hawkins.

Vers. 13, 14. Pressing toward the Mark.

I. The apostle’s sense of his own shortcomings.—1. It argued a high estimate of a Christian’s duty. Perfection is his aim, although not his attainment.

2. It argued a humble estimate of himself.—Though the most eminent Christian on earth, he was fully conscious of his own imperfection.

II. The apostle’s method of Christian progress.—1. The concentration of his energies. Many things he did, and he did them wholly. But he made them all subservient to his one idea, which thus unified them all. Decision of character.

2. Oblivion of the past.—A wonderful past was his, but he forgot it, except as it might supply a stimulus to his future advances—past times, past pleasures, past sins, past labours, past attainments. The past must have dwelt in his memory, but it did not satisfy him. “Onward” was his motto, and every day he began his race afresh.