Philipians 3:12-14
The key word is take hold or obtain: Paul has not yet taken hold of knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection and sharing in his sufferings (the previous paragraph). The key phrase is forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.
This paragraph is a comfort to me because it would be easy to get discouraged if Paul had just stopped at the previous paragraph. He lays out the ideal: achieving the righteousness that comes by faith, knowing Christ, knowing the power of his resurrection (and I'm pretty sure that the word knowing here doesn't mean having information that would allow me to pass a test on Christian beliefs but that it means having first hand knowledge or experiencing) and sharing in his suffering. I know that I don't come anywhere close to the ideal but I am pressing on to take hold of it.
The phrase that captures my attention is "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of me." In other words, Christ's purpose for Paul's life is more than just being rescued from hell. Christ's purpose is that Paul would experience Christ, his resurrection, etc. Paul was not going to be satisfied until he took hold of that. I pray that I would have a holy disatisfaction with my present level of faith and experience and that I too would press on to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of me.
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1 comment:
A good point, we will never achieve perfection down here, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive towards Christ. Yes we do have a purpose here and may we allow Christ to use us for his purpose, and may we know him better.
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