Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind… Dissatisfaction is always the first step in improvement. Dissatisfied with the pen, man invented the printing press. Dissatisfied with the chariot, man careers on the locomotive. Dissatisfied with the velocity even of steam, man links his thoughts to God's thunderbolts! This, in regard of all things, is the true inspiration. A being fully contented with present attainments, with no aspirations unto things above and beyond him, should be either a god or an idiot! Heaven's pity on the poor soul on this earth all restful and satisfied! Genius — the most Godlike of intellectual gifts, is only this restless creative agony — an impulse driving the spirit to beat its wings like an imprisoned eagle, till there be blood on the plumes and the wires of the prison house; forcing the yearning heart abroad like an unblessed spirit, away from the actual in search of the possible; to dig in every desert for a living spring; to climb every mountain top for a farther look into heaven. Caesar was the very demi-god of his generation, because a possessed world could not satisfy him. Paul was the very chief of the apostles, because, sick of all present attainments, he "counted himself not to have apprehended." (C. Wadsworth.) Parallel Verses KJV: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, |
    |