Verse by Verse Devotional on Philippians by Pastor Jack #171

The Divine Initiator

3:12 I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

The zeal Paul has to lay hold of Christ is subsequent to and a result of Christ’s laying hold of Paul. This is the way it always is with God and men. Salvation is not by human initiative but by divine initiative. The reason we seek Him is because He draws us to Himself. The reason we choose Him is because He first chooses us.

Paul’s life is the classic example of this divine initiative. He was not searching for God, he was searching for Christians to kill. He did not have an open heart, his heart was full of hate and vengeance. And yet God intervened. He didn’t ask Paul’s permission. He didn’t knock patiently on the door of Paul’s heart like a gentleman. He sovereignly took hold of Paul.

“So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who strives, but on God who has mercy.” (Rom.9:16)

If God had waited for Paul to seek Him with an open heart, if God had waited for Paul to respond to the patient knocking on the door of his heart, Paul would never have been saved. Why? Because Paul was like all other men, who are born bent against God: “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God ; All have turned aside , together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” (Rom.3:10-12)

In CS Lewis’ book The Silver Chair (in the Chronicles of Narnia), two children on earth call out desperately to Aslan (the Christ-figure in the world of Narnia, who is a great lion) to bring them to Narnia because bullies are chasing them. Suddenly they find themselves in Narnia. Jill, the child who has never been to Narnia before, encounters Aslan, who begins to explain the task for which he called them into Narnia. "Could there be some mistake?" Jill interrupts, "Because nobody called us, you know. It was we who asked to come." To which Aslan replies, "You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you."

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew

He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me;

It was not I that found, O Savior true,

No, I was found of Thee. (anonymous 1878)

Jesus said in John 6:44, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him."

Dear Father, I am a trophy of Your unmerited favor. I did not seek You, I did not grope for You. I rejected You, I opposed You by rejecting Your very existence. There was nothing in me beautiful or acceptable in the eyes of a holy God. And yet even then You loved me, even then You sought me, even then You sovereignly turned my heart of stone into flesh, even then by the power of the Holy Spirit You caused me to be born again in Your beloved Son. I am forever grateful to You that You came to seek and save this lost soul. May my life show forth Your praise!