PURSUED BY GOD What are some ways God has already sought us and is currently pursuing us? In Creation His personally creating us for intimacy with Himself (Psalm 139:17-18). God is constantly thinking about us. He intimately knows us. In the Incarnation - the Father revealed through the Son, His Living Word (John 1:1-5). In Inspiration His Word written to us as His personal love letter in which He reveals Himself. By the Cross He died for us while we were sinners, and continues to demonstrate His love for us now (Romans 5:8; John 3:16). By Adoption He chose to adopt us as sons and daughters before creation (Ephesians 1:3-10 vs. 3 He has blessed us; vs. 4 He chose us before the creation of the world; vs. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as His children; vs. 8 He lavished His grace on us; vs. 9 He made known the mystery of His plan that everything would be brought together in Christ). By His Indwelling Spirit - God sent His Spirit to live in us (Ephesians 1:13; John 14-16) the guarantee that we belong to Him and are His heirs (Romans 8:16, 17). His Spirit in us urges and cries out for intimacy, producing hunger for God (Galatians 4:6,7). By the New Covenant It was all His initiative to say I will live in you, and I will be your God and you will be my people, and I will write my law on your heart (Jeremiah 31:33). By Sanctification He is presently, actively and personally cleansing us from the power of sin and transforming us to His likeness. He is in the process of decorating our life with His beauty (His character), to be made known to the world.
Philippians 1:6 God initiated His work in us and will finish it into eternity. He is intimately involved in our life, training and disciplining us with His love to make us holy and like His Son (Hebrews 12:4-11; Romans 8:28-29). - Ephesians 2:10 God is working in our life, forming us as a potter. We are His masterpiece, His creative design. By the way, He does not make junk! He is shaping and polishing us into His image as ornaments of beauty to display His character. Hebrews 13:21 God is equipping us with everything good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight through Christ. By the Community of Believers - Through His people, whom He is conforming to His image, we come to know more of what He is like. By His Promises given for us now and for the future, in which we see His continuing intimacy with us. He will come again and take us to Heaven, where He is. When we arrive in Heaven, He will personally present us to God blameless with great joy (Jude 24), and then take us to the place He has been preparing for us (John 14:1-5). By the Names God Calls Us - In those names we see His heart and love for us. 1. We are His treasured son or daughter, belonging to Him, chosen, delighted in and deeply loved as His beloved child (Deuteronomy 7:6; 1 Peter 2:4, 9; Malachi 3:17). 2. We are the apple of His eye refers to the little man in His
eye. He is so close and active in our life, watching us so attentively, that we are reflected from His eye (Psalm 17:8). Apple implies how much He delights in, enjoys and cherishes us. He eyes are always towards us with delight. Zechariah 2:8 says for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye Consider Deuteronomy 32:10 He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye. In Luke 3:22 when the Father is expressing His delight in His Son at Jesus baptism, He says, You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Pleased here is the same word as delight. God is saying, You are the apple of My eye. 3. We are Abbas s child Abba is the most personal name for God in Scripture, carrying the intimacy of Daddy or Papa. By His Spirit s living in us, securing our sonship (Romans 8:14-16), we are now known by a name that brings with it the intimacy belonging to a family the picture of having the right and invitation to crawl up into His lap. 4. We are a crown of His splendor whom God delights in and rejoices over (Isaiah 62:3-5). We are royal jewels that He delights in and values as precious treasure (1 Peter 2:4,5). 5. We are joint heirs of God co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16, 17). All of Christ s inheritance riches, graces, Divine resources He dispenses to us (Ephesians 1:3). 6. We are the Temple of God, made valuable by the Spirit s indwelling us, speaking to us, seeking and pursuing intimacy with us (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:1). 7. We are a chosen people, now belonging to God, (1 Peter 2:9-10).
8. We are His friend, not just His servants, and therefore He will reveal Himself and disclose everything to us (John 14:21; later in John 15:15). Valued by God Significantly What are some special ways God has proven and demonstrates that He is relentlessly initiating a close, loving relationship with us? He has chosen us and wants to be in and with us. The Creator of the Universe wants to be a companion of ours, to abide in us. A stark contrast between His holiness and our humanity created an awkward distance, but Jesus went to great lengths to create a relationship with us that would last for eternity. He has declared us not only forgiven, but innocent and righteous in His eyes. He can now look us directly in our eyes, not past us with detachment, disapproval, or disappointment. Instead His eyes delight in us, His beloved (2 Corinthians 5:21). As our High Priest, mediating a New Covenant, He comes, sent by the Father, dispensing His graces, inviting us to come boldly to His Throne (Hebrews 4:16). He is the executor of our Father s estate, dispensing our inheritance (Hebrews 6). He initiated sending the Holy Spirit to be our constant Teacher, Guide, Revealer of God, Comforter, reminding us of Truth and convicting us of sin (John 14-16). He is living in us, working in us, transforming us into His image or likeness, and em-powering us by His Spirit to desire to do His will. We are His personal workmanship, His masterpiece of art (Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 1:6, 2:11-13; 2 Corinthians 3:18). He left His place in Paradise to initiate relationship with us (John 15:16; John 1). He traded His oneness with the Trinity to be with human beings in the Incarnation. He thought of us personally by name when He died on the Cross
and is continually thinking about us now. He knows our names and everything about us (Psalm 139). As a shepherd, He knows each person s voice and unique cry in the midst of every person on the planet, caring personally for each one. He is continually speaking to us now, not just through Scripture, but also through His Spirit in our lives. We need to train our ears to listen and know His voice. The Spirit makes the natural mind come alive with the Spirit s mind (2 Corinthians 2:11-16). He is committed to protect our relationship and to maintain intimacy (Hosea 2:14,15). He reveals it when our relationship is going out of step. Even when we are led away by distractions and desires, He pursues us gently, tapping us on the shoulder with another invitation for intimacy. He will personally present us to the Father with joy (Jude 24). He wants us to join Him in His work of wooing the world to Himself and discipling the nations. He graciously chose us to be on His team, at His side when He works in people. He is not only the coach, calling the plays from the sidelines He is the quarterback, calling the play on the field. Don t you feel honored to be summoned to be at His side as a companion next to His loving heart? He has chosen to be vulnerable with and for us, modeling it for us - He was called the Lamb of God the most vulnerable of animals - At Gethsemane, He asked the disciples for prayer support as he faced the agony alone of the Cross even though He knew they would disappoint Him. - He gave us free will, risking a personal relationship with - He asked Peter if he loved Him (even though it was for Peter s sake). Jesus risked the possibility of rejection.
- Jesus washed all the disciples feet, even those of Judas who would betray Him. - He wept at Lazarus tomb, even though He knew He would raise him from the dead. - He learned obedience and submission in suffering. He wept over Jerusalem. Jesus proves His love every time He initiates discipline in our life to mature us (Hebrews 12:5-11). We are in His active training program. Personal Reflections and Observations > As believers, we stand forgiven, sought after, loved, longed for, valued, pleasing to, and delighted in by God (Zephaniah 3:17-18). Being radically pursued by a loving God has major implications in our intimacy with God. It brings new desire and excitement. The Scriptures are clear He rejoices over us, likes us, and we radically please Him because of what Christ has accomplished by justification. What does doing all things that please God mean? It does not mean seeking to gain or earn His approval, His acceptance or favor. It does not mean trying to prove our devotion, commitment, worthiness, or value to Him. Justification has changed all that. We already radically please God in that sense. Pleasing God as a believer means bringing Him joy, pleasure, glory and credit. It means bringing glory to Him in all we do. > God has given us two great gifts that profoundly affect our relationship with Him His Son, who made possible our righteousness and justification before God, and the Holy Spirit, sent by God to live in us, who creates desire and power for
intimacy as He reveals Christ to us and forms Christ in us. > The Scriptures speak of the age of love, when we are more receptive to understand and receive His love. We need to be alert to respond to His wooing (Ezekiel 16:8). >Intimacy with God is His deep heart desire for us. As has been said, our desire for Him is created by the Holy Spirit in us. Ask God to give you a growing passion for Him. He will do that. He is actively and personally involved in our life daily not passive or just showing up occasionally, but active and ready to speak to us now.