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 3:12-14
Welcome to my new blog where I talk about Jesus and other faith-related things!
I’ve named this blog Pressing On for reasons that may be obvious from the Scripture above. When I was going through postpartum depression with my first child, Philippians 3:12–14 kept me going. Every day with a newborn was fraught with stress: I wasn’t sleeping and being a new mom brought a lot of fear.
When I started viewing my life as Paul did, that we are always straining forward for the prize, my stress became more manageable. I made a conscious choice to forget old stressors and focus only on the challenges of the day. Rather than letting stress pile up, I learned to let it go daily, quit hashing over it, and stop bringing it back up.
Now, with three children, it’s far more difficult to manage stress. Quite frankly, I haven’t been doing it as well as I’d like. I want this blog to help me process daily stresses so I can put them behind me, always with my eyes on the prize, which is going home to be with Jesus.
I’ve heard some say that Christianity is a death cult, that we’re always thinking about dying to be with Jesus rather than living this life. But if you’ve ever lost someone you loved dearly, you long to see them again one day, right? We lost Jesus to this world, and we want to see Him again. It’s that simple. We also long for the day when sin ends and God’s creation is made right.
Nevertheless, it’s true that we can’t just sit around wasting our lives, waiting to meet Him again. I’ve been guilty of this, and I feel convicted to change. God doesn’t want us to be lazy. He wants us to be productive, to press on while we are waiting.
In this life, we get to share Jesus with others, store up rewards in heaven, and enjoy the goodness that is still evident in God’s creation, if we take the time to look. I think that’s what Paul was referring to when he said “straining.” Sharing Jesus with the world, living a quiet and productive life, avoiding sin, casting aside idols, and facing persecution—whether it be slight or extreme—is difficult. But we’re called to do these things every day.
This blog will reflect those challenges and “strains” in my life. Or at least, I hope it will.
One caveat: I am not a Bible teacher, and I don’t see that as my calling. Instead, I feel called to live the Christian life alongside other believers, sharing what we’ve learned from the Bible, sharing prayers and answers to prayers, supporting each other through difficulties, and enjoying God’s creation together.
If you’d like to do the same, please grab a cup of tea or coffee and stick around. Let’s get to know each other.
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Image by Sarolta Balog-Major from Pixabay