Not that I have already obtained all
this, or already have been made perfect but press on to take hold of that for
which Christ Jesus took hold of me
As I started reading this verse, my inclination is to
skip over the first part of the verse to get to “the real stuff.” Skipping over scripture or ignoring what it
means is a dangerous practice. It’s like
picking and choosing what I want to hear.
God’s Word is written to be understood in context.
With that in mind, I need to read what is right before
and right after a phrase to try to understand the context. So if I read the beginning of verse 12 it
says “not that I have obtained all of this.”
What is “this?” I look back at
verses 10 & 11 and it says, “I want to know Christ and the power of His
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like Him
in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the
dead.” Those verses answer the question,
“What’s this?”
So verse 12 is saying I don’t have all of the things
in verse 10 and 11. This portion of scripture goes on to say we
haven’t been made perfect either. In spite of the things I lack, I'm told to press on. It’s a verb.
It helps us know it takes work. It is full
of action. I am suppose to take hold of
something. I need to take hold of the
things that Christ secured for me through his work on the Cross. I should pursue the things scripture tells us that
Christ secured for us. To do this, I
have to know what the scripture teaches about these things.
Pursue God through His Word.
