I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
It Is God Who Works in You
Seek, and You Will Find
Come to Me
Run in Such a Way
Stand Firm
Keep Watch
Paul will not let you choose between gift and effort. “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you.” He presses on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him; the reaching starts after he has been reached. He labors, “striving with all His energy working powerfully within me.” He says he worked harder than all of them, then adds, “yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me,” and leaves both standing. Jesus says to make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Look at what the Bible asks of us: press on to know the Lord, turn, hunger and thirst, ask, seek, knock, set your minds, come, draw near, open the door, believe, walk, run, pursue, follow, offer, remain, hold, stand, keep watch. Almost none of these are verbs of making. Asked what works God requires, Jesus names one: believe in the One he has sent. The verbs say which way you face, whether you come close, whether you stay, and whether you are awake. The life is given, and then it is sought, run toward, held fast, and stood in. The energy is his; the direction is ours. The strangest of these verbs is the last. To keep watch is to do nothing except not miss, all attention and nothing produced. Jesus ends his teaching before the passion with it, “Keep watch!”, and says it again in Gethsemane: “Watch and pray.”
Paul will not let you choose between gift and effort. “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you.” He presses on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him; the reaching starts after he has been reached. He labors, “striving with all His energy working powerfully within me.” He says he worked harder than all of them, then adds, “yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me,” and leaves both standing. Jesus says to make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Look at what the Bible asks of us: press on to know the Lord, turn, hunger and thirst, ask, seek, knock, set your minds, come, draw near, open the door, believe, walk, run, pursue, follow, offer, remain, hold, stand, keep watch. Almost none of these are verbs of making. Asked what works God requires, Jesus names one: believe in the One he has sent. The verbs say which way you face, whether you come close, whether you stay, and whether you are awake. The life is given, and then it is sought, run toward, held fast, and stood in. The energy is his; the direction is ours. The strangest of these verbs is the last. To keep watch is to do nothing except not miss, all attention and nothing produced. Jesus ends his teaching before the passion with it, “Keep watch!”, and says it again in Gethsemane: “Watch and pray.”