Food for ThoughtPhilippians 3:12 Lay Hold
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

By Marni Montanez

Philippians 3:12 New King James Version

12 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

The New Year is coming with its many challenges we don’t feel ready for. Every step of the way will come with choices we have to make.  These choices will reflect our faith and perspective. On earth we will never attain the fullness of what God is shaping us for. He is making us to be like Him; this is the ultimate goal and it is a lifelong process.

This coming year is no different than any other year and it is not a new beginning; it is a continuation of our journey on earth. We keep thinking that we are starting again and again but what we fail to grasp is that we are eternal beings. Our life began the moment we accepted Jesus to come into our hearts and we were born again. There is no other beginning nor will there be an end to our lives.  We will transition from our physical bodies into our spiritual bodies.

Our moment on earth is a time of morphing into the design God created us to be. It isn’t a mystery. We are human beings not human doings. 

What is it we are to lay hold of?

We are to lay hold of what God created us for.  While we are on earth Jesus is the doorway to our ultimate goal; He is God. Everything He is and does is in unison with the eternal glory. Our whole existence is about God and what he wants us to do on earth. Unfortunately there are things within us that hinder us from being able to achieve everything we are called to so God continues to work out the kinks throughout our lifetime. 

God the Father along with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, reached into the darkest dark and laid hold of us and though we kicked and screamed, and sometimes still do, He held on. He created us in His image and has made it His mission to shape and perfect us in Him. He has had a plan and goal since the beginning of time and has never wavered from this goal. Our “doing” is for the earth, but our “being” is eternal; our destiny is the present because it is in the present moment that God is working things out in us. He is in the past, present and future all at once. He is God and He is Spirit and He is omnipresent, but we as limited vessels can only be in one realm and though our minds may be thinking of the past or hoping for the future our being is always in the present. God is in this moment and He is always our destiny.

Challenge: Look into the moment you are in; relax your shoulders and breathe. Ask God to help you be more aware of the now. Strive to find peace in that moment and hold on to what God is doing in that moment

God bless

Marni

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lamb-rightThe purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.