We have not arrived

Photo by Zhifei Zhou on Unsplash

We have not arrived—and that is a good thing.

It is easy to take so many things for granted. As Christians, we’re taught that we are saved by grace through faith, and since we have faith, all is well. And we are well in Christ; we are forgiven; it’s all true! But today I want to think about what comes next, now that we have faith. Now that we believe, what has changed, and what do we seek?

Paul describes his perspective on seeking God in the following passage from Philippians 3.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, 
     but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. 
     But one thing I do: 
         forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 
              I press on toward the goal for the prize 
                   of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 
Let those of us who are mature think this way, 
      and if in anything you think otherwise, 
            God will reveal that also to you. 
Only let us hold true to what we have attained. 
Phil 3:12 [ESV]

Paul understands that he belongs to Christ, but he is not there yet. And he goes on to say that all who are mature should think this way. His words imply that only the immature would be so naive as to think they have somehow arrived. It’s a blessing to know how much we all still lack. It motivates us to press on, or as Paul puts it, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” The prize is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Our lack makes us hungry for something more, something better.

We can never “attain” God any more than we can catch the entire ocean in a thimble. But the analogy of a thimble isn’t quite right for this topic. It’s true we can never completely comprehend all that God is and has for us, but unlike the thimble, our capacity can grow. This is what Paul was seeking; he knew he wasn’t there yet, but he also knew his capacity was growing along with his knowledge of God. He knew there was so much more.

So what should we do now that we believe?

Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount.

 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; 
      knock, and it will be opened to you. 
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, 
      and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 
      Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, 
      how much more will your Father who is in heaven 
           give good things to those who ask him! 
Matt 7:7-11 [ESV]

We need to guard against being too easily satisfied with worldly things. Worldly things give us pleasure one day and pain the next. And all of them end too soon. God is not stingy. He is not holding out on us. He is a good father who, in love, is more than willing to give us good things. But we need to use the faith we have in Him. We must seek Him with all of our hearts to find Him and all that He has for us in Jesus.

This Week

A seeking heart is like hunger. When we fill our bellies with candy, there is no real hunger for good food. This week let’s honestly ask ourselves what we are filling up on. Are we satisfying ourselves with things that, by their very nature, can’t last? Do we love Jesus? Do we want to know him as a person? Or have we filled that longing with something else, something less?

We can help each other here. The body of Christ is not dependent on pastors or church leaders. The body of Christ is dependent on each member being connected and contributing all they have to the health of the body.¹ Let’s encourage growth in the body this week. And as we work and grow, we will get hungry, hungry for more of Jesus.

We will seek, and we will find, as we press on to the upward call of God in Jesus.

Have a great week!

1. Eph 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.