Discipleship

It is the Lord who pursues us. Jesus is knocking at the door to your heart- He is literally pursuing you (Revelation 3:20). God desires that all would be saved (2 Peter 3:9). Remember who it is we are discussing here, it is the Christ, the Holy one Sent of the Father, the Word made flesh, the Son of the Living God, who is indeed, in every way, God Himself. To presume that one can pursue such a person is a bit preposterous. There is not anywhere that the Lord Himself isn’t. There isn’t anything He does not know, understand, fathom, comprehend, and he cannot misunderstand- in fact, Jesus knows your pain, suffering, temptation, lack of provision, rejection, cruelty, evil of the world, and personal disappointment, loss, pain and suffering. If anyone gets it, believe me, he gets it (Hebrews 4:14-16; Matthew 26:37-40). Still think you can pursue God? Well, if God is omnipresent- and he is indeed omnipresent, then how can you not be near to Him at any time wherever you are? It’s like being in the middle of the ocean, treading water, and saying to yourself “I think I will pursue the ocean now.” Well my friend, the ocean is all around you, and you cannot get out of it. The Lord is all around you- you may not know Him, or have a relationship with Him, but He is all around you. Now, when you have a relationship with Him, He also dwells inside of you, and is not “just” all around you (Ephesians 3:17-19). Ok, so how about relationally? Can we pursue God relationally? Well, again, no. Because it is God who draws us- in these terms, literally as the “drawing” of water from a deep well- the water is drawn by the person drawing it, and the water cannot resist the drawing. The person drawing it is the Lord, and we are the water He is drawing (John 6:44). In fact, it must be this way, because Jesus shows us that if He did not draw us, we would never come to Him (John 6:65). So, we really have no part in this drawing whatsoever, except that we are being drawn- so we are present and participating, but we are compelled to do so, as we are also compelled to breathe air, eat food, and pursue safety, shelter, and protection. Let us not forget that the human heart is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) and that there is no one who seeks after God. Consider this:

as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3:10-18).

Well that pretty much sums that up. But is it really that simple? Yes. It really is. But what of Hebrews 11:6? Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Ah yes, there it is, having faith and seeking after God. Well, we know that all faith is from God (Ephesians 2:8-9), and to seek after, e.g., to search, worship, crave, to be compelled to search for and seek after God… it is Him drawing us, even here, not us seeking, but Him compelling us to do so. When a child reaches out to their mother, the mother reaches out- but the mother was always there, and the child is responding to the mother’s presence, love, nurturing, care and reaching out that was already present- it is in this way, as little children, that we are to approach our father in heaven, as children, responding to his love with love and obedience and complete submission to Him (1 john 2:1-6; Matthew 18:3) . It is only in this way, that we could ever possibly even come close to any concept of “chasing” God- it is never us, and it is always Him, completely surrounding us, drawing us, compelling us, indwelling us, loving us (2 Corinthians 5:14; Galatians 2:20; 1 John 3:24). So yes, seek Him, and if you are, it is Him, He is drawing you. 

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