The apostle Paul tells us in Galatians how he, as Saul, before he was saved, persecuted the church so horribly:

For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond all measure and ravaged it.
— Galatians 1:13

Eventually, such persecution forced the Lord Himself to intervene, striking Saul down on the road to Damascus with a heavenly vision. And after He struck him down, the Lord asked him,

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?
— Acts 9:4

So, Saul was not only persecuting the church and the saints; in doing so, he was also persecuting the Lord Himself, because he was touching His mystical body (1 Cor. 12:12).

But many years later, this same one who before had persecuted the church so severely, had now served the Lord in an extraordinary way. And he wrote, regarding how he was now seeking to know Christ,

Not that I have already obtained, or am already perfected, but I pursue, that I may also lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me.
— Philippians 3:12

And a few verses later he added,

I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me on high.
— Philippians 3:14

So now, instead of persecuting Christ, Paul was pursuing Him.

But, there is a secret we need to know in these verses, which is just this: When Paul speaks in them of how he is now “pursuing” Christ, it is the same Greek word used for “persecute” in the book of Acts.

(This Greek word is diōkō; Strong’s #1377. It is used over 40 times in the New Testament, and can mean “to harass, trouble, molest one; to persecute,” or “to run swiftly in order to catch some person or thing”; Thayer’s.)

This really shows us something about the character of Paul, and how he could be so useful to the Lord. That is, whether he was opposing and persecuting Christ and His people, or whether he was serving them, he put everything he had into it. In a very real sense, even after he was saved, he was still “persecuting” Christ, only now in a positive way. He just would not let Him go, so that he might be “well-pleasing to Him” (2 Cor. 5:9), and thus obtain the prize (Phil. 3:12, 14) of the crown, and so reign with Christ in resurrection glory (1 Cor. 9:24-27).

May we learn of our brother to be so serious in our own pursuing of Christ, even “persecuting” Him ourselves in a good way as we run after Him, that we too may gain the prize and so reign with Him in glory!

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—  9 May 2026 —