“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Phil. 3:12b)
The idea of PRESSING ON conjurs up a picture of someone pressing me for some vital information. This idea of pressuring me without letting up to say something or do something comes to mind. This pushing without letting up is applied here to taking hold of something. Whatever it is that Paul is taking hold of here comes with a “never letting up” attitude. And then this idea of TAKING HOLD causes me to think of gripping something and never letting go. When I was in high school, I wrestled for one year. One of the things I learned during that experience was that taking hold of your opponent in the right way and right position and with great strength & leverage, not allowing him to break that hold was critical for success. So whatever Paul is taking hold of, he is probably doing so with the idea of holding on with all his might, to never let go of.
So as I continue dissecting this verse and practicing the “pronounce it” method, I now come to that which Paul is pressing for with the goal of never letting go, and it is this: that for which Christ took hold of me. (When I first read this statement, the meaning was not immediately obvious. I honestly couldn’t right off the top say what it meant. And I realized it was because of my poor English skills that I couldn’t take the sentence apart. Fortunately after a little bit of reading it over and over again, I could see what Paul was saying.) Paul is basically saying that he wanted to take hold of the thing for which Christ called him to, which begs the question, “for what purpose did Christ take hold of Paul?” And the obvious follow up to that is “for what purpose did Christ take hold of me?” Looking at surrounding verses, it is clear that Paul wants to know Christ intimately. He wants to press on for the prize awaiting him. And while he does not say specifically what that prize is, it no doubt includes being finally united with Jesus for eternity – knowing Him not just from a distance, but finally together with Him. God has called Paul to take hold of a deep, deep relationship with Christ.
Naturally, this should be my heart’s desire, too. What a challenge! Am I pressing on, never letting up on a pursuit to know Him more? Man, that is my prayer. Lord, help me pursue and press on and never let up on trying to know Jesus more and more.