Top 7 Bible Verses About Aiming High

Here are seven Bible verses about aiming high in life.

Philippians 3:13-14 “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

The Apostle Paul adds to these verses by writing, “Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you” (Phil 4:15) and so “Only let us hold true to what we have attained” (Phil 4:16) and to make sure to “keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us” (Phil 3:17) and their eyes off of those who contrary to a walk with Christ. Forget what’s happened; focus on what’s ahead. Press forward to that highest of mark; the kingdom of God and the King of that kingdom, Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

This is very close to what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 9:10 where he wrote, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” and the Apostle Paul would add, “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord” (Rom 12:11) and whatever we do is a calling from God, no matter what the job is. We are commanded to give it all we can because we are really serving “the Lord and not…men” so that is Whom we will receive our rewards from, not employers.

Second Timothy 2:15-16 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.”

If you want to aim high, zero in on the Scriptures, for in them you will be able to handle the Word of God in the proper way and be able to read text within the context to avoid pretexts. If someone asks you a simple question about the Bible, you would not have to be ashamed in answering them if you had already had been “handling the word of truth” and this should enable you to avoid “irreverent babble” which only leads “people into more and more ungodliness.”

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Today, there seems to be a power outage in the church and what’s missing is the power of the Holy Spirit in our witnessing to the lost. For the last century, those who are consistently witnessing for Christ have dropped to about 1 in 10 Christians, meaning that 90% of the church is living out the “great omission” instead of the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20) which we are commanded to obey. This is an imperative command from Jesus but it’s one of the most ignored of all of Jesus’ commands.

First Corinthians 13:1 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

Christians can certainly talk the talk but walking the walk is a whole other matter. We can say we love others but our actions can betray what’s really in our heart. The Apostle John warns us to “let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning” (1st John 3:7-8) and it is “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother” (1st John 3:10).

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

We can do all things through Jesus Christ Who Himself will strengthen us but the opposite also applies just as Jesus said “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5) so we can do all things that Christ would have us do if we have His strength and abide in Him. Without Him, here’s what we can do; nothing!

First Peter 4:10 “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

Every member of the Body of Christ has a gift or likely, more than one gift, but these gifts are not for our own glory or for us alone. The gifts of the Spirit are intended to build up the church, to serve the church, and to love others in and outside of the church, so we should use these gifts for the church in the way God intended for us to use them. Why would God equip every believer only to have us sit on these gifts and not use them for His glory? As stewards, we will be held accountable for how we use them or if we neglect them.

Conclusion

It’s one thing to say you are aiming high but then making very little effort in trying to attain that goal. James wrote that we are to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:22-25). God doesn’t bless good intentions or someone’s desire to help others; He blesses those who do because as James wrote, “he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:25) but never in just saying.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.