TOPIC: DO YOU COUNT YOURSELF TO HAVE APPREHENDED?

-WHAT THE SCRIPTURE SAYS ABOUT THIS MATTER-?
“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before: I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Let us therefore as many as be perfect, be thus minded; and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing”….PHILIPPIANS 3:12-16.

-WHAT I RECEIVED OF THE LORD CONCERNING THIS MATTER-
Brethren, when I lost my wife in 2012, I was in great sorrow of heart. And as I prepared for her burial, I kept looking at our five children – the eldest just 13 years of age, and the youngest just about 4 years. And as I watched the children, my mind was asking many questions – such as “where do I go from here? “Why has the Lord forsaken me”? Many such questions filled my heart. Generally, I felt that God owed me some explanations, and I meant it!

But, one day, shortly after her burial, I gathered my children around me, and together we sang this song: “We have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back”. We sang the song with some boldness and courage but in tears! I am not very sure that all my children understood the import of what they did that faithful day. Yes, we had decided to follow Jesus in spite of our feelings, in spite of our questions, in spite of our indescribable loss. Yes, we decided to continue in Him, if perhaps we would ever apprehend that for which He apprehended us – if perhaps we would ever get to understand why such things happen even to people of God.

Brethren, up till today, we still have not apprehended. Yet there has been no let up from the evil one. Subsequently, the enemy has unleashed attacks upon attacks upon my person and my children - that he almost destroyed us – if not for the mercies of our God. Yet, we are still following Christ; we are still pressing on – forgetting those things which are behind and focusing on the joy and glory that are set before us – focusing on making heaven at last. We have tried to “move on” as some would say, yet wherever we go we see Jesus standing and watching us – yet He refuses to tell us why He has apprehended us. All He keeps telling us is that a great door and effectual is opened unto us, but that there are many adversaries.

Brethren, it is a Divine mandate that whosoever must qualify as a true disciple of Christ must of necessity take up his or her Cross. There is a Cross for every believer. There is also a certain cup that every believer must drink on his or her way to heaven. These are compulsory requirements for whosoever that will make heaven at last. It is all part of the mystery of godliness. But the glory of it all is that for every Cross, even for every cup, there is also a marching grace. Our prayer therefore as believers must be that His grace may abound; and not that God should remove our Crosses, or even that another should drink our cups on our behalf.

Well, for those that understand, let me re-echo what Apostle Paul wrote – that there is a price for every calling in Christ Jesus. And it does appear that the higher the calling the higher the price. But sadly enough some believing folks are desperate to avoid this price; but at the same time are determined to reap the fruit of their calling. Such is the Christianity of bread and butter. It is imperative that whoever must enter heaven must do so weathering all manners of tribulations through much patience and faith in our Master and Savior.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, I do not know the price that awaits each and every one of us. I do not know what you are passing through right now even as part of that price. But this very thing I know – that every believer is called: and that there is a price for every calling. And our duty as the called is to continue to follow Jesus, even as babes: not asking questions. But, now and then, we may be excused, just as Apostle Paul, the liberty to inwardly wonder why He has apprehended us. Keep walking.