"Not as though I has already attained, either were already perfect....." Philippeans 3:12.
Paul says, 'I cannot in any sense regard my Christian pilgrimage as finished. I haven't yet reached the goal' -
although as he implies in v. 11, when he reaches the resurrection he will have reached the ultimate goal.
I wonder whether you or I are really facing this? Are you a self-satisfied Christian? Are you satisfied simply
because you don't fall into the hideous things that some people do? Or have you seen some of the great positive
virtues that God means you to have in your life?
What about having a look through 1 Corinthians 13. Paul's great description of what love, real Christian love,
means in your life. And as Paul says, that love is kind, doesn't vaunt itself, is not puffed up, read through that
chapter and substitute your own name for the word 'love' and see how far you get; and then admit with the
apostle Paul, 'not as though I had already attained, either were already complete.' Yet at that same time Paul
makes it abundantly clear that there is one thing in his life which is complete - you will notice he uses exactly
the same word for what Christ has done for him.
At the end of v.12 he says, 'I follow after, that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.'
There is nothing incomplete about the way that Christ has laid hold of him. It may well be that he has not fully
possessed all that is his, but Christ has taken hold of him in completeness. As Bishop Handley Moule comments,
'Paul has a perfect blessing, but he is an imperfect recipient of it'
Paul says, 'I cannot in any sense regard my Christian pilgrimage as finished. I haven't yet reached the goal' -
although as he implies in v. 11, when he reaches the resurrection he will have reached the ultimate goal.
I wonder whether you or I are really facing this? Are you a self-satisfied Christian? Are you satisfied simply
because you don't fall into the hideous things that some people do? Or have you seen some of the great positive
virtues that God means you to have in your life?
What about having a look through 1 Corinthians 13. Paul's great description of what love, real Christian love,
means in your life. And as Paul says, that love is kind, doesn't vaunt itself, is not puffed up, read through that
chapter and substitute your own name for the word 'love' and see how far you get; and then admit with the
apostle Paul, 'not as though I had already attained, either were already complete.' Yet at that same time Paul
makes it abundantly clear that there is one thing in his life which is complete - you will notice he uses exactly
the same word for what Christ has done for him.
At the end of v.12 he says, 'I follow after, that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.'
There is nothing incomplete about the way that Christ has laid hold of him. It may well be that he has not fully
possessed all that is his, but Christ has taken hold of him in completeness. As Bishop Handley Moule comments,
'Paul has a perfect blessing, but he is an imperfect recipient of it'
