It is a magnificent piece of writing. When I read Paul in these moments I glimpse his hunger and desire to know Christ. There have been times when I come on these passages and I almost weep thinking, “Paul! I want to see what you’ve seen!”

Read Philippians 3:7-16 and HERE I use the Common English Bible.

Paul is given to a holy pursuit. His cry is not: “I want to know more about Christ.” His passionate cry is: I have to KNOW Christ!

All that his world had valued and would measure Paul as “accomplished” Paul would now claim as sewer trash. He shouts through the page: Christ has grabbed me!

Words like “grabbed” and “pursue” leap out at me in this passage. The energy he used to persecute the Church is now turned on a pursuit of Christ. Paul has realized Christ apprehended him so he wants that energy turned toward Christ.

There is a passage from a sermon by Chrysostom (an early church father) that says this:

He says not “I run” but “I press on.” Consider how the pursuer strains in his pursuit. He sees nothing, he thrusts away all who impede him with great force, he cherishes his mind, his eye, his strength, his soul and his body, looking at nothing other than the crown.

It is work. I again hear the words of Dallas Willard: “Grace isn’t opposed to effort. It’s opposed to earning.”

Where is my energy going? Where is my focus? So often a better question for me is: Why am I so distracted?

Christ has apprehended me.

His affections are fully toward me. May I now turn my affections toward him! Fully. With energy!