The Seeking God

Revelations 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Here, in the bible’s final book, Jesus paints a brief picture that aptly sums up the message of the entire bible.  The creator of all, here describes himself as humbly standing on our doorstep, initiating contact and pursuing us so that we may enter into an intimate relationship with him. From beginning to end, the bible is a record of God’s interaction with and pursuit of man.  He is in control of the universe, yet He somehow allows us to follow or not follow him.  He longs for us to live in right relationship to him, but He allows us to open or not open that door.

The old testament book of Hosea chronicles the misadventures of the prophet of the same name, who was commanded by God to love and marry a prostitute in order to illustrate God’s love for us.  Hosea obeyed, married this woman, saved her from her life of destruction, only to watch her return again and again to that destruction. She bore children from several men and ended up back in prostitution at which point God commanded Hosea to go and buy her back, again.

The point of the miserable story of course, is that the God, like Hosea, continues to pursue and love me despite my wandering, destructive behavior.  I am the prostitute in the story, going back again and again to my own corrupt behavior.  No matter how hard I try though, I apparently lack the capacity to stop God from pursuing me. Looking back, I can see that though at times I have felt distant from God, it has always been because I have turned my back on him. God has never turned his back on me. He is always seeking and pursuing.

I do not mean to draw God as needy, groveling or pathetic.  He is none of those things.   He does however, love us and He desires that we love him back.  He has gone to dramatic lengths to initiate with us and He longs for us to respond.  The greatest commandment is that we are to love God with all that we are (Matthew 22:37).  God loves us and wants us to love in return.

In the book of Matthew, Jesus said The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44).  Jesus said I am to do whatever it takes to abandon self and follow God. This is the only proper response to the creator of the universe when He comes knocking at my door.

I have been guilty of ignoring God’s knocking. Now however, I daily make this choice to open that door to invite him in. I know the treasure that awaits in this fantastic relationship with him, so today I will do whatever it takes to leave behind self, open that door and follow him.