Are you a person
of single focus-a person of one thing? "But what things were gain to me,
these I have counted loss for Christ." Paul purposely narrowed his options to become a man of one thing. Let’s
consider how he put it…
“Yes,
all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared
to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand,
everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant - dog dung. I've
dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ 9 and be embraced by
him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from
keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from
trusting Christ - God's righteousness. 10 I gave up all that
inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection
power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death
itself. 11 If there was any way to get in on the
resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.” (Phil. 3:8-11, Msg)
Growing
up or maturing is partially a process of letting go, of getting rid of, of
taking inventory of what is unnecessary baggage and tossing it! Like Paul; “I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace
Christ and be embraced by him.” Maybe, just maybe everything is rubbish if it
keeps me from embracing Jesus with the single focus Paul portrayed.
Maybe
the best thing we can do for Jesus is to first and only embrace Him? And then
the next best thing we can do for Jesus is to embrace what He is doing for us!
In so doing we are truly being-we are in fact ‘being’ a human being, not a
human doing! And in this posture we receive being embraced by Him. Maybe when
we finally (every day) let go of, cast off, throw away and turn from anything
and everything that has been before Jesus then we can truly and fully
experience what Paul did! Embracing Jesus calls forth trusting him only!
“I
didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping
a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting
Christ - God's righteousness. 10 I gave up all that
inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection
power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death
itself. 11 If there was any way to get in on the
resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.” (Phil. 3: 9-11, Msg)
When
we embrace Jesus only; by faith, the prize of our Salvation is realized! “I
have not yet received all of those things. I have not yet been made perfect.
But I move on to take hold of what Christ Jesus took hold of me for. 13 Brothers and
sisters, I don't consider that I have taken hold of it yet. But here is the one thing I do. I
forget what is behind me. I push hard toward what is ahead of me. 14 I move on toward the
goal to win the prize. God has appointed me to win it. The heavenly prize is
Christ Jesus himself.” (Phil. 3:12-14, NIRV)
But
here is the one thing I do. If you will allow me to be so bold as to put it
this way? This ‘being’ is the summation
of our required ‘doing’! Did you get it? Every day, every moment, in every
circumstance—He is the prize!
Embrace
and embracing, Ron Ross
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