Biography Of God: A Six-Day Devotional By Skip HeitzigSample

The Joy of Pursuit

Once you respond to God by taking a step of faith, you're ready for the second great responsibility Hebrews 11 identifies: pursuit.

The Bible tells us not only that God can be found and known but that He loves it when we seek Him. The author of Hebrews wrote that God "is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (v. 6). King David told his son Solomon, "If you seek [God], He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever" (1 Chronicles 28:9). The prophet Jeremiah shared God's promise to the faithful seeker: "You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). And we're all familiar with Jesus' guarantee that asking leads to receiving, seeking to finding, and knocking to opening (see Luke 11:9-10). James made the math simple: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8).

But did you know that our pursuit of God ought to be a response to God's initial pursuit of us? God made the first move; He always does. And as prime mover of the universe, He expects us to respond honestly to Him. "Don't bargain with God. Be direct.... This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in" (Luke 11:10, MSG). God doesn't play games with us. We are able to seek Him because He came after us first. "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). God made the first move, revealing Himself to us in a number of ways that culminated in Jesus Christ coming to the earth.

That revelation demands a response. Your pursuit ought to be an intentional, committed response to the God who intentionally committed Himself to you in Christ. When you look at the list of people in Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith, that's the thread woven throughout each of their lives: faithful pursuit of the God who pursued them.

What is your chief pursuit, your master passion in life? What do you want more than anything else? Surveys, polls, and research point to people's typical answer: to be happy. The Declaration of Independence touts our right to the pursuit of happiness, along with life and liberty. Most parents faced with the uncertainties of their children's future admit they just want their kids to be happy. Let me tell you something that might surprise you: God wants you to be happy too.

The problem is that we humans look for happiness in all the wrong places: relationships, accomplishments, accumulation, even the church. Education may open opportunities, money may buy certain comforts, and status may purchase a type of satisfaction. But God made you, and He knows what it takes to make you truly happy—namely, pursuing Him. Will you return His pursuit of you?