Following Hard After God

If you have watched much football (admittedly, I may have watched TOO much of it), you have no doubt seen what happens when a player fumbles the ball. Everyone on both teams, regardless of their size or position, does everything they can to recover the ball. In my opinion, the recovery of a fumble is one of the most intense moments in all of sports. Players take desperate measures to pursue the “live” ball, often at great risk to their bodies. We know why they do it – they want to win.

Recently, I have been challenged by a wonderful little book by A.W. Tozer titled, “The Pursuit of God.” In the book, he challenges all who call themselves Christ-followers to pursue Jesus with everything they have. He encourages us that to win in our relationship with Christ, we need to be “all-in” in that pursuit, to fervently pursue the Lord. When we do, He will allow us to find Him.

Tozer writes, “I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality of our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present, or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us, He waits so long, so very long, in vain.” Tozer warns that we can become all too complacent in our relationship with Christ. We expect Him to pursue us, to meet our needs.

Instead, God desires us to approach Him with everything we have. Tozer continues, “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose, he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately, and forever.” (A.W. Tozer) I love those words, “purely, legitimately, and forever.”

That is what I long for in my life – that type of relationship with the Lord. He tells us if we seek Him, we will find Him. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8 ESV) God is worth pursuing with every fiber of our being. As you make resolutions for this new year, I encourage you to include “Fervently follow after God” at the top of the list.

I hope you’re able to join us beginning next Monday, January 12 for our special week of prayer and fasting. Click here for more information and the full schedule. I pray that the Lord richly blesses you with His presence in this new year! 

Expectantly,

Shawn

P.S. Please join me in praying for the Slayton family as they are mourning the passing of Erin’s father, John R. Kelley (obituary).