A Purposeful Pursuit
“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” Colossians 3: 14.
Keep on keeping on is a good standard for Christian growth. The expression “I press” means to earnestly pursue after.
The finish line is perfection. This is not a sprint, a quick burst of brisk energy. It is a marathon. “Run with patience” (Hebrews 12:1).
The author of a book entitled “Finishing Strong” offers this studied conclusion. Of those who start out strong in the Christian experience only one out of ten finishes strong at the age of retirement. Commit yourself to being that one.
The purpose of this pursuit is expressed as “That I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended.” There was purpose in this pursuit. We are to live out our purpose. To apprehend means “to seize and take possession of.”
We use the word “apprehended” to speak of law enforcement officials catching a person. Jesus literally arrests us in salvation.
In another state on another day law enforcement officials put out an all points bulletin showing the three dimensions of a wanted person. It showed a left and right profile and a straight ahead likeness.
Soon they got a reply from a Barney Fife type law enforcement official in another state reading: “We caught the one on the left and the one on the right and have a good lead on the one in the middle.”
Jesus knows your I.D. and in love He wants to apprehend you for your good.
The verb tense speaks of a specific time in which this happened. The moment of transformation in life is when we faithfully and wholeheartedly trust Jesus as Savior. Paul left Jerusalem as emissary of the high priest. He entered Damascus as a servant of the Lord Jesus.
Christ wants to “lay hold on” you not just to forgive you, but to give you a new character, a new nature.
God used certain things to apprehend Paul. Paul was appointed by the Sanhedrin to investigate the resurrection. He concluded, “If Christ is not risen, our faith is in vain.” Initially he heard those he sought to intimidate say, “We ought to obey God rather than man.” He watched as Stephen was stoned in triumph. The final factor was when Ananias, one of those he was hunting, put his hand on his shoulder and called him “Brother.”
Paul wanted to “lay hold on” that for which he was “laid hold of.” It was…
“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10).
It was to be more like Jesus. That simply stated should be our aspiration.