Press on

“Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance”  Hebrews 6:1

Press on – When you read this verse, think about the implication of this action.  Who is the agent here?  Who does the “pressing”?  At first it seems like this is a verse that requires us to get going.  It looks like the emphasis is on our acting, our movement, our effort.  The verb is phero and it usually means, “to bring or bear or carry”.  But there is something in this verse that makes a little change to this meaning, a little change that changes everything.  This verb is not an “active” verb.  It is a passive verb.  That means it is about something that happens to me, not something that I do.  The correct imagery is the picture of a ship being pressed along by the wind.  The ship doesn’t “do” anything.  It is the wind that moves the ship.  All the ship has to “do” is open the sail.  In its passive form, this verb is more like “driven” than like “pressed”.

Read the verse again with this new understanding.  “Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let’s position ourselves to be driven to maturity.”  It’s not something I do for myself.  It is something that God impels me toward.  It’s His wind behind my sails, pushing me in His direction.

Too much of our contemporary Christianity is infected with the legalism of performance.  We are a “do this”, “don’t do that” group of believers.  We know that Christ died for us but we act as though after He forgives us all the rest depends on our efforts, not God’s grace.  We try rowing instead of sailing.

Have you ever been in a big sailboat with a full wind behind it?  Oh, it’s so peaceful, so quite.  You’re just speeding through the water, effortlessly, hardly making a sound or any disturbance at all.  It’s all about the wind.  The power that pushes you forward has nothing to do with you.  You’re just along for this marvelous ride.

What kind of life do you have with God?  Are you sailing, free, filled and fantastic?  Or are you trying to row, bound to duty, exhausted and struggling against the waves?

Open the sail.  God’s blowing a mighty force toward maturity.  Catch the wind!