Getting involved with God

Pursue Him

Deuteronomy 4:29, “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” In order to get involved with God, and have Him involved with you, you must diligently pursue Him. In life, your number one pursuit should be to find God. For when you find Him, you will find His will, and as a result, you are be able to do His will. Jesus said, “For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother” (Mark 3:35).

Notice, to actively pursue God, there can only be only one strategy. You must seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. In order words, God must become your first priority. Many things we chase after end up being stressful purely because our priorities are wrong. This concerns God-inspired priorities too. For instance, serving the Lord should never supersede your need to delight yourself in Him.

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and [then] He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart” [Amplified]. If you get pleasure or delight purely by serving Him, then your priorities are wrong. And what’s likely to happen is that your life will eventually become stressful and disheartening. Why? Because you are expecting God to grant you the desires of your heart through good works instead of worship, fellowship, and intimacy.

God supplies all our needs because of relationship, not because we have performed well. I have no doubt that serving God with zeal is a good pursuit, and that it should be one of your major goals. But I also believe that it should not necessarily be at the top of your priority list. Delighting yourself IN HIM – by seeking Him alone – and being worshipful, intimate and loving toward Him, should be your highest priority and your most direct pursuit.

The word pursue implies “to run after, chase, follow after or hunt down.” All of us are probably running after, chasing or hunting down certain priorities in life. We all have genuine pursuits and identifiable priorities, some by choice and design, and others out of pure necessity or circumstance. Therefore, it would be correct to say that we are all (in some way or another) involved in the pursuit of happiness through identifiable priorities. But do these priorities help us find God? There are many acceptable priorities yet only three main areas of pursuit for Christians – the 3 G's: (1) The Pursuit of Goals (2) The Pursuit of Good and (3) The Pursuit of God.

(1)   The Pursuit of Goals. We live in a goal oriented society and the primary goals which dominate in both secular and religious areas of life can be expressed in six simple words. And these words are broken up into two groups; the 3 S's - success, size and security; and the 3 P's - position, power and possessions. Very early in life we will be subjected to these goals and become influenced by the desirable images which they portray. A goal which clearly focuses on success, size and security was probably programmed into every one of us at an early age. And, a strong desire to have position, power and possessions was also cultivated throughout our informative years.

Note there is nothing wrong with ambition provided it is not allowed to get out of control and dominate your existence. You should never set your sights on failure, but when you have set your heart on success, you had better make sure your priorities are listed in the correct order. Success for ‘success sake’ is a very fickle thing to pursue, but so too is a yearning merely for size and security. Paul had a zeal and a strong drive to win, however, his goal and prize was always an eternal one (1 Corinthians 9:24-25). Seeking first the Kingdom of God places your ambition in its correct location.

(2)   The Pursuit of Good. Probably all sincere and conscientious Christians pursue good, for doesn't the Bible say, “Always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all” (1 Thessalonians 5:15). It is this quest that will tug on your heart strings, a quest which you genuinely consider honourable. 1 Timothy 6:11 confirms this, “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”

Therefore, the desirable pursuit of godliness is a combination of pursuing love, holiness and peace. But your primary pursuit should still be the pursuit of God Himself, and not just becoming a good person for God.

God, and not good, is the ultimate thing you should be chasing after. You can often loose God by seeking His by-products – by seeking His gifts or seeking His fruits - independent of Him. If you genuinely pursue Him, and seek His presence, all His fruits and His mighty power will be available to you without any striving or effort.

(3)   The Pursuit of God. Please let me reiterate something before we continue toward the climax of this teaching. The other pursuits we just discussed are acceptable, honourable and positive – provided they are kept in their correct order of priority. Wanting to succeed and not fail is positive and it’s very important to the well-being of our families. Desiring to be more godly and demonstrating more goodness is of great benefit to the Body of Christ. Also, serving God with zeal and enthusiasm can be a real blessing to the local church. However, seeking God Himself, in an attitude of reverence, worship and deep intimacy must remain the highest priority for every one of us. At least eighteen times in the Gospels Jesus is credited with saying, “Follow Me!” This is still our highest calling, and everything that God does to us and through us, is intended to blossom in this awesome pursuit.

God is not as interested in your service as He is in your relationship with Him. God, and not good, is the ultimate entity you should pursue. As you diligently seek God, He is faithful to seek your good! As you give yourself totally to God and delight yourself in Him, He in turn delights in giving Himself totally to you. As you sincerely set your affections upon Him, and are intimate with Him, He releases His great love and power toward you. And He can both out-give and out-love you at any point in the relationship.

God is life, and He can be the strength and joy of your life - provided you delight yourself in Him alone. He desires to be your wisdom, your power, your source of inspiration, and your abundant supply. But for this to take place you must pursue Him and hunt down His will for your life. David declared in Psalm 27:8, “When You said, 'Seek My face', my heart said to You, 'Your face, O Lord, I will seek'.” You must seek His face with such heart-felt tenacity as to find Him in every situation, and in finding Him, you will discover a whole new source of supply. New love, new peace, new joy, new strength, new inspiration, new hope, new faith and new horizons.

Can you meet this standard? Are you willing to seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul? Will you genuinely delight yourself in Him alone? Are you a God chaser?

Chris Demetriou, 27/01/2008