Reaching Out

“I’m not saying that I have this all together,

that I have it made.

But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ,

who has so wondrously reached out for me.

Friends, don’t get me wrong:

by no means do I count myself an expert in all of this,

but I’ve got my eye on the goal,

where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus.

“I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.”

— Philippians 3:12-14, The Message version

I can easily sign my name to that first sentence, and even joke about it: “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made.”

Maybe that fits you, too.

It’s that next sentence where I stumble and fall: “I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ.”

Maybe you trip yourself up here, too.

But Paul didn’t stop there, and neither should we:  “I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me.”

Christ, reaching out for us.

Pause with me here.

Let that simmer and flavor your soul today.

Mercy.

Then, by the grace of God, we can be “well on (our) way, reaching out for Christ.”

Amen and amen.