Pressing On

Philippians 3:12-16
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.”

Philippians 1:6
“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”


The things I write here are truly what I hold dear and believe in my heart of hearts. But I find it so hard to live them consistently. Sometimes I look back at something I’ve written and cringe, thinking, “Boy, I need to be living that out better.” For example, as I mentioned the other day, I know that I know that I know that it is vitally important that we parents teach our children God’s word. But far too often I let days go by that I don’t diligently teach them. I know they hear D. and me talking about our faith, but I want to purposefully teach them more consistently as well. We only get to parent them once, I don’t want to waste precious time.

If I believe correctly and write correctly, but do not have enough love for my Savior, my children, my family, my neighbors, and people I encounter throughout life to live it consistently and open my mouth as a witness of His grace when God puts the opportunities in front of me, then all the writing and thinking is in vain. It will be wood, hay and stubble that are burned up. I must, must, must do better at putting feet to what I know is true.

I need to say thank you to my brother in Christ, Rick Freuh. We attended the same church when D. and I lived in Florida, and though I didn’t actually know Rick then, I did know of him and heard him teach a few times. And some of my very good friends were in his Sunday School class at the time, so we know a lot of the same people. Yesterday when I was having a real down day and wrote about it, Rick left a comment that touched my heart. He said:

“Rebekah - If you can only share what you completely perform and never allow the Spirit to lift us all up higher than we have gone than your blog would be nothing more than an earthly narrative. But I have read some of your posts and poems and like me the Spirit has allowed you to be a Spiritual conduit that draws attention to the Savior and not you. Be encouraged, your words glorify Him not you which is the greatest privilege of all! “

I also had a conversation with my dad recently and he encouraged me that we confess what we know is true, and the Holy Spirit continues His work of sanctification in us. It is a process – we are not glorified yet, but when our Lord calls us home, and we see Him face to face, only THEN will we truly know as we are known. Only then will we be able to worship Him completely. Until then, we press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. This is a true encouragement for it has helped me to regain perspective on why I write.

My primary calling right now is to be wife to my husband and mom to my kids, so I still write about them and our everyday lives sometimes, too (that’s really all I know right now) – not all my writings are serious.

But as I write the more serious things, my desire really is to bring glory to my Savior. The things I write about are what I am striving to be. I want my life to glorify Christ, and I hope that by writing the serious things I write, perhaps, first of all, I will begin to better put into practice what I know is true, and if I can encourage someone else to want to know God's Word better and to live out the faith and seek to honor Jesus, too, then that will make it worth it. But I don’t want to leave the impression that I think I have perfected these things – I write about the goal I am pressing toward. Sanctification is a life-long process, and I’m glad to write about my walk along the journey, pressing ever toward the goal of living a life that brings honor to my Lord.

Please, God, teach my heart to want to do Your will and put into consistent practice what I say I believe – to walk according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh.