Dear Reader
I PRESS TOWARD THE MARK FOR THE PRIZE OF THE HIGH CALLING OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS (Philippians 3:14)
2022 has arrived with all its unknown! We look on to a path as yet unseen and untrodden.
Many set up their goals and plans, yet, judging by how the last two years have gone, the ever-changing circumstances of this world will bring disappointment and despair. Uncertainty and perplexity fill men’s hearts with fear. Man is looking around for answers and stability but is faced every day with more bad news and a grim looking future.
The dear servant of the Lord, the apostle Paul, who lived in world that is very much like ours, shows us the secret of stability and tenacity. Paul pressed onward! The calling on high in Christ Jesus was before him. Forgiven, justified, saved, and reconciled to God through the death of His Son, he still moved forward to the heavenly goal.
The same grace that called him has called us. The same love of God that blessed him has blessed us. The same race that he ran is ours also. The same goal to which he hastened is before us too. The same power that strengthened him is given to us likewise. May the same purposefulness that marked him be also found with us.
Now, by faith, we can look beyond the present to the time when Christ shall fill the universe with His glory and to when God shall be all in all. By faith, too, we look into heaven and see Jesus and all the things that are His in the presence of God. Hope sustains us in the wilderness, and enables us to purify ourselves, “even as He is pure.” With faith and hope we have love, which has been divinely implanted in our hearts through the sovereign working of God in grace and has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That love is to control our thoughts and actions for the pleasure of God.
The Lord Jesus is now at the right hand of God, and our life is hidden there with Christ. We are to be with Him where He is. Meanwhile, our pathway must be pursued to the end. The goal is still ahead. It is ours to press forward. Endurance is needed; but encouragement and cheer will not be lacking as we travel onward.
Let us press on day by day with Him by our side, and with Him before our eyes. We will, through the reading of our Bibles and praying every day, be able to overcome the fear and the instability that is around us until we obtain the crown of righteousness.
Dear readers, our hearts are full of thanksgiving to the Lord for His faithfulness toward us in the past years. To you, dear reader, who is praying for Toward the Mark and to those who are helping in producing this exercise, they are known by the Lord, and He is the rewarder.
It is our prayer that the Lord will use Toward the Mark to help you as you face the daily challenges of school or work, as we are dependent on Him to feed and strengthen His people. Thank you for your overwhelming response and encouragement to this exercise.
Please keep praying for the Lord’s blessing on Toward the Mark.
Yours in our soon-coming Lord,
Emil S. Nashed
Please send your questions and comments to:
Toward The Mark
c/o Wayne Christian Assembly
60 Smith Lane
Wayne, NJ 07470-5354
Attention: Emil S. Nashed
www.towardthemark.org
