God Always Pursues Us
"Isn't it amazing that God gives breath to a man who will use it to blaspheme Him?" -Leonard Ravenhill
One of the most common questions I get asked as a Pastor, besides, "What in the world do you do Monday-Saturday?" has to be, "What is your favorite verse and parable?" I love this question because, plain and simple, it's easy for me to answer. My favorite verse goes hand in hand with my favorite parable. In Luke 15 Jesus tells a parable that always manages to bring tears to my eyes when He describes the way a shepherd, caring for his flock, will leave the entire herd in order to go and find one little lost sheep who managed to wander off. Not only that but how much rejoicing there is among the shepherd and his friends when he finally manages to bring the lost sheep home. When we welcome a newborn baby into our congregation we gift them a little "My First Bible" and I always write my favorite verse on the inside cover because it moves me the same way this parable does. In Matthew 28:20 we find Jesus' last words spoken before He ascended to heaven, "...and remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Do you see how perfectly this parable and this last line from Jesus go so well together?
The temptation with the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin is to view it as a one-and-done event. We see what Jesus was trying to do with the imagery: We were once lost, but when we became saved, we were found, and God was happy. But that was years, perhaps decades ago! Surely the exhilaration in heaven from my being found has worn off by now. The newness of finding me has faded and where there was once a spit-shined shimmer to my salvation now there is only a dull, matte finish. It's right here, in this mentality, that we find what I've heard so many refer to as the "unfair" part of this parable, because once we're found aren't we just a part of the flock God so easily left alone to go and find another lost soul? I'm not special anymore, I'm just one of the 99.
So quickly this parable loses its impact because we interpret it wrong and misunderstand the full weight of its meaning.
We must not read this parable as a reference to the moment of justification, that moment where we turn from sin and face the grace of Jesus Christ, and nothing more. This was never meant to be understood as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, rather Jesus meant it as a reference to what happens to each of us daily. We are not lost once, found, penned up, and never to roam again. I'm sorry, friend, but that simply isn't how life works. We are gifted with a free will that keeps us free-range. There are no gates that keep us under a law and force us to obey, there are no pens that force us to stay in place and force our love, our Creator gives us the freedom to choose.
Read the quote above. Take a second and wrap your head around this unbelievable truth. Our God gives us the freedom to choose to love or choose to walk away from Him. And yet our God will still pursue us in our freely made choice to walk away! Each day we leave the safety of the Shepherd for the pleasure, ease, and comfort of the wilderness around us. Every day we freely choose to turn away from God's will for us and pursue our own will, even if for a split second when we choose anger toward the driver in front of us instead of love. And each and every day, God rises with us in the morning, puts on His hiking boots, and gets ready to go chasing us through the thickets we choose for ourselves, all the while loving us without question and yelling encouragements for us to choose a better path and come back to Him. THAT is unconditional love.
This is a love that cherishes to the point of pursuit.
Where will God find you today? Being pursued, chased, and celebrated when found is not a one-and-done, it is an ongoing action and it's exciting to think that today, this hour or moment, you could make yet another return to our God's loving arms and remember what it feels like to be one He left and went looking for.
You are worth more than you could ever imagine, not because of what you've done but because of who it is that claims you.
