Under Arrest

Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT)
"I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."

Recently, this scripture caught my eye, and it was the word in verse 12 where Paul essentially says: I want to possess all that God possessed me for. The word "possess" in the greek also has a translation that we might know as the word "Arrest". Often we think of being arrested as a bad thing. We think of handcuffs, and grainy shots of reality TV from the show "Cops". To say someone was arrested might have been considered doomful news.

To Paul, being arrested by God was the BEST thing that ever happened to him. As a mom, if I see my son, running in the direction of danger, I chase him down, grab him (with force if I must) and arrest him for the sake of his own protection. It seems like countless times when I have had to arrest my toddler before he darts into a busy parking lot.

As a believer we need to remember that it was not US who found God, but by His mercy the Lord Arrested. He grabbed us that we might LIVE in Him, that ultimately through His specific plans we would bring Him Glory.

Have you been arrested by the Lord? Or are you running from Him? Like a child running into the fast traffic of a 6-lane highway. God, our Father, cares for us more than we could ever know.

Maybe it's time to stop running from him, and surrender to His power. He does, after all, know us best and love us best.