Imagine that you’re a child and first year 4-H member. You have worked all year to care for a lamb; it hasn’t been easy. Your 4-H leader told you the rules and mom and dad have given you daily coaxing. The lamb was fed and watered before school and afternoons were busy with feeding, grooming and lastly cleaning of the lambs stall. There were many times of wanting to quit but you didn’t.
The big day has arrived; you’re at the county fair and it’s time for 4-H lamb judging. All entries have been paraded before this year’s judges. You wait to hear the decision over the PA system and glance at your parents sitting in the bleachers. A screech comes from distant loudspeakers.
“May I have your attention please? We have come to a final decision for the grand prize winner in this year’s lamb category.“ Is it you? A far better prize awaits Christians!
“Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken 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 (Philippians 3:12-14 NASB).”