Seized

 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Philippians 3:12...."We've settled for SURVIVE when God wants us to THRIVE." Dutch Sheets...."We're so cumbered with ourselves that we're never free to be occupied with Him." Vance Havner

In my prayer journals, I have written down in several places, "What is it for which Christ has taken hold of me, and of you?" Do I know? Do you? Your life, as you live it right now, do you think that on every conscious level, you're living out the purpose for which He died to give you? To give me? Someone asked, "Are we living lives that are worth His dying for?" Could there be a more piercing question? Could there be one that our flesh seeks more ardently to avoid answering?

We're masters at self-deception. We easily convince ourselves that the portion of ourselves that we give Him is a very generous one. We can be loyal attenders and givers, and even volunteer for a number of ministries. Yet, even if we are the most active people in our local fellowship, is that proof that we're living out the fullness of His purpose for us? With all that we do or give, are we at root, just surviving, or are we thriving? More, in the service we do offer, is it more about us than it ever has been for Him? Beyond this is the reality that we mostly miss; He didn't save us for a task. He saved us for Himself. Everything else flows out of that. His purpose for us was not in giving us a position in His corporate Kingdom. It was that we would know Him...deeply. That we would love Him....deeply. That we would abide in Him deeply. This is why He first laid hold of us, and it's to be the motivation behind our laying hold of Him. How much evidence is there in our lives that this mutual laying hold is actually taking place?

Dutch Sheets says that the original language for the phrase "take hold" means to "seize." This is a much stronger word picture than that of taking hold. To seize something is to take hold of it with strength, with an unbreakable grip. With the intention of not letting go. This is how the Lord takes hold of us. Is it the way in which we take hold of Him? He holds us tightly. We tend to hold Him loosely, and sometimes, we don't hold Him at all.

We talk a great deal of the abundant life, but how many of us really enter into it? How many of us really know what the abundant life is really all about? Too often we've relegated it to the earthly realm; a comfortable life materially, financially, and physically. It's all about our success and physical, emotional, and material well being. We have little idea of the true riches in Christ available to us but that are never laid hold of. Never seized. A.W. Tozer said that he feared discovering upon entering eternity all of the riches available to Him in Christ, but that he had lived his life out as a spiritual pauper. How many of us will discover the same?

Paul said that the passion of his heart and life was to know Christ. His deepest yearning was to enter into richest fellowship with His Lord that was possible for Him. Everything else in his life, ministry, witness, everything, flowed out of that passion. He'd been seized by Christ, and in turn had seized his Lord. What of us? What have we been laid hold of for? What passions have captured our hearts? If it is anything other than Him, we miss what He created us for, saved us for. Each of us has been seized by and for something. What is it, who is it that has seized you?

Blessings,

Pastor O