Pursuit requires intent

Whoever pursues righteousness and unfailing love will find life, righteousness, and honor. (Proverbs 20:20)

What are your pursuits? We each have something we are particularly interested in, like a hobby, career path, or even a favorite thing to watch on TV. I don't particularly have a passion for the news, but I like to be informed. It is not a pursuits for me, just an interest from time to time. I can even go days without watching any. Miss one day in the Word of God and I feel a bit deflated, without energy, and even a bit disoriented in my activities. Why? It is a lifeline for me! How about you?

Pursue righteousness and unfailing love. We might say this is a call to pursue Jesus as he personified right living for us and he definitely showed all of us his unfailing love. In pursuing Jesus, we find life, right standing with God the Father, and we receive a tremendous place of honor - a child of God. What more could we hope to gain in any pursuit in life? 

Pursuit is intentional. It is directed toward something or someone. Where is you attention directed today? If you can answer that one honestly, you might be surprised to find your 'pursuit' is a little wobbly at times. It is even without focus or intent. What happened? We got off-course, with out eyes and minds caught up in things around us that really shouldn't have been out main focus. When this happens, it is not uncommon to feel less than 'focused' and a bit adrift.

Intentional pursuit is the call for today. What will you put your time and energies into today? Will they be spent as Christ directs, or will they be all over the board? Will they be to engage in the things that build up, refresh, and restore our mind, body, and emotions? If not, perhaps we should reconsider some of those pursuits and get a bit of alone time with Jesus. It is never too late to start that day the right way! Just sayin!

One word: Pursue

Life is a journey. When we stop, things don't go right. (Pope Francis)

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. (Colossians 3:1-2)

Act like it - a behavior change is required, is it not? When we embrace this life in Christ, there is to be evidence of having a life change. How is this change manifest? We embrace or pursue the things that were once foreign to us. In other words, we stop being so absorbed with the things of this world and we ask God for a change of focus. We want to be open to the things God is doing, but there are times we are so absorbed in the things going on around us in this world, we forget to get his perspective.

All of this life with Christ is really defined by one word: PURSUE. At first, we are pursued by God. As we embrace the life of grace offered through Christ, we begin to pursue him. Our immediate response may be to just follow his path because it is pleasant, and things seem to be changing for the better. After a bit, the challenge to pursue is a little harder - things don't seem to be changing at as rapid of a pace in our lives, so we may get a little bogged down. It was great while that immediate 'thrill' of pursuit was there, but now that it is getting harder, the investment greater, we are challenged a bit in our pursuit.

As Pope Francis reminds us, we cannot stop just because the journey is hard, or it isn't moving at the same pace as before. Growth is sometimes rapid-fire, but at others, it is slow, tedious, and even a bit of a struggle. A plant begins by putting down one main root, then it puts of littler ones. At the same time, a stem begins to struggle to the surface, leaves begin to appear, and then more leaves. The first two leaves soon fall away, no longer needed because the 'permanent growth' is beginning to appear. 

It is oftentimes like than when God asks us to grow in a certain area. We put down one root, let some other smaller ones develop, seeing immediate signs of 'new life', but then it seems to take forever for the other 'leaves' to grow. Life takes time - change is occurring, but the pace has just changed. The plant doesn't just stop growing because it has a few 'first leaves'. It puts down more roots, digging in a bit deeper, and sending all that it receives by those roots to the parts that need growth. God does the same in us - we pursue (send down roots), he nourishes, and we put forth new growth. Don't ever stop the pursuit because you are never going to see the fullness of growth if you do. Just sayin

Lingering a little too long?

Of all possessions, a friend is most precious. (Herodotus)

Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah! (Romans 5:9-11)

I would say I am blessed to have a 'best friend', but throughout the years, I have been blessed to have many friends. Some stick closer than others, don't they? You are most fortunate if there is always at least one who is 'just there' through thick and thin. There is one friendship we can never neglect - that which we share with God himself. When we were (and are) at our worst - he is right there to set things right in our lives.

Today's blessing is that we are constantly being 'expanded' in Christ Jesus. We are never 'stagnant' or 'just existing' when we pursue this friendship with God. Being put on right terms with him means we are free to pursue just have we have been pursued. Tenacious pursuit - that is what God desires of us. As a result of our pursuit, we find our lives are 'deepened' - there is no longer that shallowness of self-control. 

Religious pursuit doesn't bring a change to our lives, but a genuine relationship with God does. When we put our hope and trust in his 'leadership' over our lives, we find there is no reason for 'religion' any longer. Religion kept us bound to our sinful past - doing over and over again the things we thought would help us grow and deepen in our relationship with God but finding it did little to bring us any closer. When we stop trying to be 'made right' and just enter into this relationship with our whole heart, we find the pursuit changes.

We are no longer content to just linger in unproductive practices - we want to experience the depth and breadth of God's love, his plan for us, and his purpose lived out in us. Just sayin!