A Word in Season: Laying Hold (Philippians 3:12)

Paul’s Desire to Know Christ and Share His Resurrection

The Apostle Paul knew that he was not the finished article, and he knew that there was more to come. He had written to the Philippians that he was ready to depart and be with Christ, which was far better, but content to remain in the flesh for the present time if it was of benefit to them.

His great concern was to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. He wanted to know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means He might attain to the resurrection from the dead.

But the Apostle knew that he was not the finished article. He knew that there was still more to come. While he was ready to depart and be with Christ, which was far better, he was also eager for the day of the resurrection, when not just a sinless soul, but also a perfected body would be reunited, and he would be in the presence of his God and his Saviour for all eternity.

Laying Hold of the Goal in Philippians 3:12

And so in chapter 3 and verse 12 of the letter to the Philippians, he says, Paul has his eye fixed on that goal. He has his eye fixed on the glory to come, and he knows that the Lord Jesus Christ has laid hold of him.

There's a sense of conversion there, which involves this wonderful divine activity, the Son of God reaching out, reaching down, and grabbing a hold of somebody upon whom He has set His love, that they might be with Him.

Now, they become His by that divine act of mercy and salvation, but there's a further purpose still being worked out. Christ wants His people to be with Him where they are. Christ is looking forward to the great marriage supper of the Lamb, and Christ having laid hold of Paul for that purpose, Paul says, I now am stretching out that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me.

In other words, the Apostle has been brought into this pilgrim way. He's been put on this racetrack, and now he's stretching forward, he's pressing on, he's reaching out, and he's striving with everything that is in him, all his redeemed humanity, pressing toward this great prize for which Christ Jesus has laid hold upon him.

Pressing On Rather Than Being Passive

As a desire and his design, he knows that there is still sin in him. He knows that he is not yet perfect. He knows that there are things that he needs still to learn and to gain, but he's not passive, and he's not careless, and he's certainly not buying into this let go and let God mentality.

No, I press on. If God is at work in me, then I will be working for him. I now see and in some measure understand what it is that God in Christ has designed and intended for me in the future, and I want that with all my heart and with all my soul, and so forgetting those things which are behind me, and looking toward those things which are ahead, reaching out for what is still in the future, I'm pressing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

The Christian Life as Stretching Toward What Christ Has in Mind

Now, if you're a Christian, Christ has laid hold upon you. Christ in grace and mercy has reached out and taken you for himself, that you might be with him and enjoy the blessings of his salvation. If that's happened to you, then you also need to reach out.

You need to be stretching toward that for which Christ has called you. He's laid hold upon you, so you now want to lay hold upon that which he has in mind in so putting his hand upon you. Is your soul taken up with these things?

Do you see them more clearly, know them more completely, want them more earnestly, and strive after them more diligently? There is the apostolic spirit. That's the concern of every true believer, that they should get what Christ wants them to have, that for which he's called them to himself.

This then should be our goal. We should be spiritual athletes, reaching out for the finishing post and seeking to get a hold of that for which Christ has laid a hold of us.