I got a note yesterday from my Mom saying that my sister was entering six kinds of cookies at the County Fair. Here they are:

For some odd reason, I was craving cookies all day!

I vividly remember those sweltering August days when we baked in a kitchen without air conditioning. Of course the more you bake, the better the odds. I honestly can’t recall how many entries we would make but some years there were many. The goal was to win first place or, even better, the Grand Prize. Those winning goodies were then auctioned off to raise money for either the 4-H Clubs or the Fair Board (I don’t know which).

My most vivid memory is my chocolate chip cookie entry. I presented my 6 cookies on a paper plate to the judges. Their comment, you ask? They tasted good but the chocolate chips were uneven. Excuse me? I guess when you have dozens of entries of the same kind of cookie you have to find something. To this day I think of my uneven chips when I bake chocolate chip cookies.

We all love to win, even if there is no real prize involved. I played “Family Feud” with friends last night and loved it when my team won but, alas, I’m not a millionaire today.

I don’t know the results of my sisters entries at the fair but even the Grand Prize at the County Fair does not compare to the prize that awaits those who are in Christ. We have something far better than a ribbon or even a million dollars.

This is what Paul has to say to the church at Philippi:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 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. Philippians 3:13-14

The ESV Study Bible says that “The prize is the fullness of blessings and rewards in the age to come, most especially being in perfect fellowship with Christ forever.”

Wow! Perfect fellowship with Christ forever! That is beyond our comprehension, isn’t it? And to think that Jesus was the One who paid the price to make that possible….already. I cannot add a single thing…..He paid it all. And I can rest in that. My obedience and living a life that pleases God are only my offering back to Him (and for my own good I might add).

I don’t know your particular struggle as you read this but odds are you have one. That’s how life is in this fallen world. But I encourage you to live by these words of Paul and “press on toward the goal for the prize” knowing that God knows and sees your pain, as He does mine.

I will close with these words from 2 Corinthians 1:3-5:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Have a great day!