“But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.”

I don’t remember when it was, but in professional football the rules committee decided that the ball would be marked dead at the foremost point of progression instead of allowing the defense to push a runner back from the point that the runner had progressed.  This is good for football, but it’s not the real world.  It would be amazing if we could always return to the point of where we had progressed and no setbacks could make a difference.   But, that’s not how it works.  We can get pushed back from where we have progressed with just a slip, or competition strengthening, or a change of direction.  This is why we need to be resolute in holding our position of progress and keeping ourselves always moving forward.

When Paul wrote of holding onto progress, he was talking about the spiritual growth he was seeing in an emerging church.  But, he was also talking to us.  Each day as we strive to bring glory to God through our work and how we go about conducting ourselves in the workplace, we can believe that God wants us to progress in our growth and impact.  If He didn’t, He wouldn’t have had Paul encourage those in the church to mark and hang onto their progress.  Progress can be made today and if it occurs, then yes, hold on and keep the forward progression moving.

Reference: Philippians 3:16 (New Living Translation)