Heart Tracks - The Stretch

     In Philippians 3:12, Paul writes, "...but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus."  The question confronts me; am I living for, "pressing on" for that which Christ first laid hold of me?  Do I really know what it is that He laid hold of me for?  Do you?  Indeed, has He truly laid hold of you at all?

    So many of us think that it's an occupation, an activity, even a ministry that He laid hold of us for, called us to. We think its about doing.  He says it's about being.  Paul, who "did" miraculous things for Him, never believed that it was for that "work" that Christ first laid hold of him.  Paul said, repeatedly, that he lived to "Know Christ and the power of His resurrected life."  Everything, ministry, works, day to day living, flowed out of that knowledge, that relationship.  The miracles that he was a part of flowed out of the Life that he was immersed in.  He was not first and foremost called to ministry.  He was called to Christ.  He was, day by day, laying hold of that for which Christ had laid hold of him.  Our call is no different from his, no matter what our "occupation" in this life may be.  There are many "causes" to live for, the believer has only one; Christ.  Christ lays hold of us for Himself.  Has He laid hold of you, and if so, are you pressing on to lay hold of Him as He has laid hold of you?  If not, what has gotten in the way?  Paul, on the Damascus road, on his way to arrest followers of Christ, was himself arrested by Christ.  Arrested in order to be made whole, new, and above all, free.  Has such an arrest truly taken place in you, or, like Paul, are you filled with religious fervor to serve, all the while lacking the indwelling power of the resurrected Christ?

    Many are familiar with the passage in John 6 where we're told the majority of disciples chose to stop following Jesus.  The "calling" He asked of them was seen as too much.  Jesus asked those who remained, "Will you leave me also?"  He asks us today as well, but before we answer, might we be willing to examine a little more deeply what it means to leave Him?  Most would say "No, I will not leave You  Lord," but what about those areas of our lives where fear and dread reign?  Those can't be present where He is.  If they are, He has not left, so who has?  The same may be said of unresolved anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness.  As well as unbridled lust, ambition, and a drive to accumulate "blessings".   The seeking to lay hold of recognition, applause, and the honor of men.  None of these may be present where He is, so if they are, it can only be, at least in that aspect of our lives, we have left Him.  Thomas Aquinas said that "We seek the benefits that only God can give us, all the while fleeing from God."  Where might we be fleeing from, leaving Him today?
    We were created for one thing only, to know Him.  To lay hold of Him.  One translation of the term "laid hold of," is "straining forward."  To lay hold of Him, and all that He is, will require a great stretching spiritually on our part.  We'll need to "strain forward," and each day the call will be to strain a little further, a little deeper.  Will we make the stretch, or, will we continue to reach for that which is temporary, passing, centered in the flesh, and not the Spirit?  Are our lives today in line with that for which He first laid hold of us?  Have our lives really been laid hold of by Him?  We're all stretching for something.  Is it really Christ we reach for?

Blessings,

Pastor O 
   

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