I PRESS ON
HEBREWS 12:1-2, 1 CORINTHIANS 9:24-27, PHILIPPIANS 3:10-14
“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
Jesus took hold of me. He grabbed me and held on tightly. He refused to let me go. Even though it brought him to the pain of the cross. Even to the shedding of his blood. Even though it cost him his life.
What did he do this for? It was so that I might have life. If he had not done what he had done I would have been lost in my sin, condemned and exposed to the wrath of God.
Now that I am saved from condemnation, saved from God’s wrath, torn from the clinging grip of sin by my determined Lord, I in turn will do my best to take hold of that life that Jesus gave back to me at the cost of his own. My life must not be wasted; it is too precious. Just as he took hold of me and refused to let me go, so too I press on to take hold of life.
What we need to realise is that Jesus did not give his life just so we can go on living our lives. Surely our lives is not worth the life of the Son of God. No, the life he has won for me is far, far more than what I am experiencing now. As John says in 1 John 3:2, “But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” We will be like him in his glory.
Therefore, I set aside the things that weigh me down; I leave behind the past that may distract me; I don’t waste time, energy and opportunity; every time I am knocked down, I get up again; I train; I press on.
The language employed by the writers is extreme—let us throw off everything that hinders; I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave—but the picture they convey is clear: Christ had gone to extremes to give me this life, I should not shrink from the challenges of the life that I am called to live in his name.
For my sake, Jesus did not falter. For his sake, neither will I.