We were created to see and savor the glory of God, and Jesus died to open the way to everlasting enjoyment of God as the highest treasure in the universe. This, then, is what the Christian life is all about: "throwing off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles" in order to run the race "in such a way as to get the prize." The prize, as Paul explains in Philippians 3, is Christ Himself.

The Christian race is first a struggle to see. We must pray with Paul in Ephesians 1, "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened..." If our goal is to "know Him better" and thereby find the greatest treasure and give God the greatest glory, we must pray daily for this.

The Christian race is a race of sacrifice. "Throw off everything that hinders" (Hebrews 12:1). Sin holds us back from treasuring Christ by tempting us with inferior pleasures. Even good things can become distractions from the best thing. We must, with Paul and Moses and David and Abraham and countless saints through history, "consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Are you willing to lose all things for His sake? Rest assured that if you lose it all, you will possess everything. Live in such a way as to get that prize.
"Having nothing, and yet possessing everything." ~2 Corinthians 6:10