In Pursuit of Jesus Part 1
Oh we try. We try so hard to make life work. We want to be holy and full of life and love. We try to make something out of our lives, something Jesus would approve of. We fight for our relationships, our families, our churches. We fight so hard and yet seem to fail so often. We fight harder, this has to work. We are Christians aren't we? It can't be that hard to be a righteous, spirit filled and led human. And yet we stumble. Families fall apart and churches split. Everywhere you look there seems to be chaos and turmoil. And we wonder why. We cry and get burnt out. And understandably so. Because we have forgotten the most important thing. Is it possible that in the midst of our running to and fro, our doing good deeds and trying to be so holy, is it possible we have forgotten Jesus? Have we forgotten to pursue Jesus with everything we have?
I did. That's just the honest brutality of it. In my mad search for real living and happiness and godly womanhood and holiness I simply missed it. Somehow I missed the real answer. Oh I thought I had it down pat. I thought things were going great, I wasn't perfect but I was getting there wasn't I? I was sitting in the terrible pool of sameness I keep talking about. And the worst thing of all, I was sitting there and enjoying it, thinking to myself that I pretty much had life figured out now. Just writing this makes me cringe. I'm so thankful for a God that resists the proud.
It hurts. It hurts badly. When in spite of everything we've done, that relationship you were fighting to mend snaps. When the church splits anyway. When your family falls apart anyway. We want to blame God, tell him it was his fault. He should have fixed it. He should have healed it. Why can God never get it right?
In our despair and self pity we forget that we cannot expect Jesus to do great things if we are doing the things ourselves. We cannot expect Jesus to heal a broken relationship if we are taking the responsibility of healing the relationship all by ourselves.
It's all so simple. We need to pursue Jesus. We need to "look full in His wonderful face." We need to "search for Him like for hidden treasure." We need to put aside our good deeds and pursuit of holiness and godliness and simply pursue Jesus. The Author and Finisher of our faith. We need to put aside our distractions and the demands of life and run after Jesus.
I'm still learning. Like I said earlier, I've only just begun this journey of finding Jesus. It's long and sometimes painful. But I've come to the place where nothing matters anymore, only Jesus. And I'm willing to do what it takes, not to find my place in the world, not to find my identity, but to find Jesus. If you are willing, start this journey with me. Drop everything if you need to. Take a week off work and go to a quiet place, and begin your personal search for the heart of God. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."
I did. That's just the honest brutality of it. In my mad search for real living and happiness and godly womanhood and holiness I simply missed it. Somehow I missed the real answer. Oh I thought I had it down pat. I thought things were going great, I wasn't perfect but I was getting there wasn't I? I was sitting in the terrible pool of sameness I keep talking about. And the worst thing of all, I was sitting there and enjoying it, thinking to myself that I pretty much had life figured out now. Just writing this makes me cringe. I'm so thankful for a God that resists the proud.
It hurts. It hurts badly. When in spite of everything we've done, that relationship you were fighting to mend snaps. When the church splits anyway. When your family falls apart anyway. We want to blame God, tell him it was his fault. He should have fixed it. He should have healed it. Why can God never get it right?
In our despair and self pity we forget that we cannot expect Jesus to do great things if we are doing the things ourselves. We cannot expect Jesus to heal a broken relationship if we are taking the responsibility of healing the relationship all by ourselves.
It's all so simple. We need to pursue Jesus. We need to "look full in His wonderful face." We need to "search for Him like for hidden treasure." We need to put aside our good deeds and pursuit of holiness and godliness and simply pursue Jesus. The Author and Finisher of our faith. We need to put aside our distractions and the demands of life and run after Jesus.
I'm still learning. Like I said earlier, I've only just begun this journey of finding Jesus. It's long and sometimes painful. But I've come to the place where nothing matters anymore, only Jesus. And I'm willing to do what it takes, not to find my place in the world, not to find my identity, but to find Jesus. If you are willing, start this journey with me. Drop everything if you need to. Take a week off work and go to a quiet place, and begin your personal search for the heart of God. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."
Comments
Post a Comment