Hey everyone! My name is Sam and I am very excited to have the opportunity to contribute to this blog! With BASICcon and BASICcon Jersey this month I’m stepping in to help out with a couple guest posts this month.
To strive is a verb that by definition means to make great efforts to achieve or gain something, or to struggle or fight vigorously. As Christians, we are told often that striving is not something we have to do anymore, and for good reason. Christ has come to pay the debt for us. We already have the victory, we already have redemption. We don’t need to prove ourselves to God because Jesus’ blood has made us righteous once and for all.
This IS the Gospel, the good news of Christ. But what if I told you there was a good kind of striving? What if I told you that our faith was never meant to be a passive, one and done kind of deal? Just as an athlete passionate about their sport or a scholar passionate about their subject continually “make great efforts” to practice, learn, and mature in their craft, our passion for Jesus can and should compel us to continually strive for more of Him.
In Philippians 3:7-8, Paul shares a beautiful sentiment that cuts to the heart of our faith, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And when we meditate on that for a moment we are overwhelmed. He has captured our hearts and truly it is worth the loss of all that we love and know and hold dear, just to know Him. It’s beautiful really, but what Paul says next just makes it all the more real.
We all know Paul. The church persecutor turned all out preacher evangelist is on fire for the Lord. He was a “Hebrew of Hebrews” and in regards to righteousness under the law “blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6). Yet, when he encounters Jesus in a vision on the road to Damascus, he repents and does a complete 180. He is radically altered and his life would be forever in service to the Lord.
Now hear me, this is where it gets crazy. This man who has been beaten, shipwrecked, thrown in and out of jail multiple times writes, “that I may know Him [Christ] and the power of the resurrection, and may share in His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). If anybody could speak confidently about knowing Christ, my bet would be Paul and yet he says, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).
Do you hear that language? Do you hear his heart? Paul, a man well acquainted with suffering for the sake of Christ, says “I’m still not there, I still want more.” Striving, pressing, straining. This isn’t coming from a heart that is hoping to gain acceptance by trying harder. That’s not even close to the gospel. No, this language communicates that Paul is a man in love with his Savior, desperate for more. He is desperate just to know Him more and will continue with every bit of strength and effort to do so.
That’s just one example! Check out 1 Corinthians 9:24, Hebrews 12:1 or 2 Timothy 4:7. In each we get a sense that there is a race to be run, a fight to be fought, and certainly work to be done. It is easy for us to be content with where we are. It is easy for us to settle into our routines and our lives and not strive for anything more. I was personally convicted by the words of the apostle.
I am already accepted, I am redeemed and forgiven. All these things are true. I don’t have to, and honestly can’t, prove myself to God. I never could and never will. But by His grace He has made me His own and I will run and fight and do what ever it takes to know Him more. That’s the good kind of striving, powered by the Holy Spirit and created from a heart that is deeply in love with Jesus Christ.