I Want You to Want Me

The God who made the world and everything in it . . . he made from one man every nation of mankind . . . that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Acts 17:24-27

I’m not endorsing love at first sight, but that is exactly what I experienced with my wife. Since the moment I met her, I simply knew she was the one I wanted to marry. She, however,  did not feel the same about me. So, I spent seven years pursuing, hoping that she would one day return the feelings I had for her. She eventually did, which was fantastic, but during that period, when the romance was one-sided, I spent a lot of time desiring that she would feel about me the way I felt about her.

Though it may seem odd to think of God this way, this is the nature of his love towards us. God made us to fit perfectly into a relationship with him. He is the author of love and in his love, he desires that we love him back.

Believing that I was going to one day marry my wife – with no supporting evidence at the time – I pursued her. I called her. I wrote letters. I was continually attempting to take the relationship to the next level. That is what love does. It pursues. It hopes to be pursued in return.

Today’s passage reveals this truth – God loves us and longs for us to pursue him. He wants us to want him. In his sermon to the Athenians, Paul explained that the one true God, the one who created the entire universe, can not only be known, but desires that we seek him. It is only in continually seeking him, that we may live in a beautiful relationship with him

My wife and I (eventually) got to know each other and fall deeper in love only by spending time with each other. Unfortunately, I’ve not always been the husband I’m supposed to be. When I’ve pursued those things which are antithetical to a good marriage, I’ve hurt our relationship. Once we’re married, I cannot just stop pursuing our relationship. I must continue nurturing it.

So it is with God. If we want to find, know, and love God, we must pursue our relationship with him every day. The God who made the world has loved and pursued us. Now, we must daily love and pursue him in return.