Abandon

I’ve had the word abandon on my heart and mind a lot lately, I think, because that is how I have pursued my thesis over the past three weeks: with abandon.
I have committed myself to that process, working on my thesis every day, meeting with my advisor everyday to discuss the latest draft. As Webster’s Pocket Dictionary captures it, I have exercised “unrestrained enthusiasm”

I think there is a lot to be said about the implications of Abandon for how we walk with Christ. Much of the time we hear about surrendering to Christ, which is not what I am talking about here. Surrender is necessary in “giving up” one’s will and heart to Christ, saying “It is not I who live, but Christ who lives within me.” But there is also abandon; that giving oneself over to the pursuit of Christ so that all else fades into the background. I was reminded of this again when I revisited Philippians this morning and read in the third chapter, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.”

And later on, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers (and sisters), I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal….” Everything else is a loss compared to knowing Christ; all else is forgotten as Paul strains and presses on toward Christ.

What does abandon mean to you?