To Know Him More and More
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:10-14 (New International Version, NIV)
We go down many roads in life, and we walk many miles because life is a journey. There are various stops along the way. We may visit some places that are not so pleasant but necessary for our learning and growing. We may arrive at others places where we’d like to stay a lifetime. Whatever happens and wherever we go, we must know God is with us and is leading us to do many things and meet many people.
As we go through various experiences in life, we must choose to learn from them all, growing closer to God in the process. Regardless of our location or our position, the main thing is that God has us and we have Him. The key is to develop a daily relationship with Him in the midst of everything going on around us. It is true that there will be hurts and losses in life. We may encounter negative things that cause us to have questions. We may deal with losses, especially the loss of special people God brings across our paths. We have to think of the good and thank God for them, the time we had together, and the fact that we are better for having known them. Every situation has some benefit for us, even the things that seem to be so difficult to go through.
God will use anyone or anything, good or bad, to show us that He’s all we need. He is love. He’s faithful, good, and just. He shows us that He can turn losses into gain, pain into purpose, problems into provision, defeat into victory, and sorrow into singing. God is good and does us good. He can take anything and repurpose it for our growth and development, drawing us into deeper relationship with Him and making us more and more like Christ. And isn’t that what it’s all really about anyway?
