“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” Philippians 3:12
Though the Christian life is one of great inner peace, and rest of soul, Christ Himself being our peace, it is not a passive experience. On the contrary, we find in Paul’s first letter to Timothy the following admonition if he would be a good, effective soldier and servant of Christ, one called and gifted to fulfill the will of God in the salvation of men, and the building up of the body of Christ, the church. To this end Paul would instruct Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith, LAY HOLD on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed in the presence of many witnesses.” (1Tim. 6:12)
Timothy had a godly mother and grandmother who had prayed for him and nurtured him in the Scriptures from his youth. At one point, after his conversion, he was specifically called of God to be a minister of Christ to the church. This calling was confirmed by the laying on of the hands of believing elders, most certainly including the Apostle Paul. Timothy was gifted and equipped in fullest measure for the walk and warfare of faith that was before him, but there would need to be the daily intervention of God responding to the position and maintained attitude of faith. Paul would address Timothy’s calling from God. But he would also clearly address the means by which this calling would be fulfilled. His great emphasis in writing to Timothy was first and foremost his relationship with Christ, and the communion with God derived by faith in Him. Thus, he speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, “our Savior,” “our hope,” from whom there is the constant source and river of his grace, mercy, and peace of God the Father and the Lord Jesus, to be known and to be lived in. That which would follow this blessed call to ever be in the pursuit of knowing God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, is the revealed purpose of all ministry and the God’s commandment: That purpose is “…love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” (1 Tim. 1:5) The call to know Christ is first of all a call to know the truth of Him. But then, there must be the apprehension, or appropriation of Him as one’s Life. It is to this matter that Paul would clearly and emphatically draw Timothy’s attention, for without being aligned with this, even in the exercise of doctrinal purity and zeal, without the manifestation of the Life of Christ by the Spirit, one would certainly fall short of God’s purposes. So, in light of all that is true of God, revealed to and in Timothy in a measured extent, what does Paul instruct him to do, and to be, in order that the reality of Christ’s life should be revealed in his life, and in the ministry?
Paul instructs Timothy, as a man of God, to “Fight the good fight of faith.” “LAY HOLD ON eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Tim. 6:12) The call to Timothy is not just to know the truth, or even to rely upon past experience, but in the present moment to lay hold of Christ as one’s Life and Resource for every need, so that Christ will be foremost, and lifted up, the Head of the church in reality, with the manifest power of God being revealed in and through the lives of every believer in the body. There is no passivity here, nor the looking back to lesser things, but looking to Christ, taking Him to be one’s all.
Charles Wesley wrote: “‘Tis all my business here below, to cry ‘Behold the Lamb.” “Happy, if with my latest breath I may but gasp His name: Preach Him to all, and cry in death, ‘Behold, behold the Lamb!'”
Dear Father, Strengthen our hearts today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.