Pursue or Float?

Thursday, December 08, 2011
Pursue or Float? Life is very much like a river. I’m sure you’ve seen a river, such as the Arkansas River, when there’s been a lot of rain and it’s almost at flood stage. The water levels are higher, and the current is rushing. All sorts of debris is being pushed downstream as the water gushes on. Anything that doesn’t have the strength or ability to go against the direction of the water is naturally pushed in the direction the river flows, and usually pretty quickly.
By nature, the human life is moving in a direction that takes us away from God. Mankind isn’t getting better with time, contrary to popular belief. The farther away from the Garden of Eden we get with the continuing of time the darker our sin and sinful natures get. If anyone attempts to debate the theory of evolution when it comes to mankind, I simply point to the degrading condition of morality as a sure sign that, if anything, we are devolving.
So it stands to reason that if a person is simply floating through life they are drifting farther away from God, believer or not. So many come to Christ thinking they can simply get their “fire insurance” and that’s all there is to it. And to be honest, for years some of our teaching and preaching may have reinforced that. Trust me, I’m the biggest advocate of the Biblical teaching of security in Christ that there is. But friend, Christ doesn’t save us into a simple freedom from hell. No, the Christian life is so much more than that.
We’ve been called to “draw closer to God.” His promise is that when we draw closer to Him, “He’ll draw closer to us.” That means that we can, actually, get closer to Him with time as we live in relationship with Him and actively pursue that closeness! Just let that soak in: the God that created everything that exists and has existed Himself forever WANTS to be CLOSE to US! That should blow our minds every time we think about it!
Here’s the problem: closeness with God doesn’t happen naturally. Actually, the opposite is the natural process, as we’ve already discussed above. The simple fact is that if I’m not actively pursuing Christ in the relational ways He’s given me to draw closer to Him (time in Scripture, prayer, worship, showing Him to others, loving Him and people, fellowshipping with other believers through faithfulness to His Church, etc), then I’m floating into greater distance from Him.
I believe Scripture teaches that once we are in a saving relationship with Christ we are held securely in that relationship with Christ until the day He “completes” His work in us and we are home in heaven. However, the drawing closer to Him is up to us. And call me crazy, but my understanding of Scripture leads me to believe that if we truly know Him, within us will be a desire to know Him better, and deeper, and closer. If that desire doesn’t exist whatsoever, maybe we should closely examine whether we truly know Him.
I want to be pursuing Him with every moment I’m alive. I don’t want to be a floater. Would you join me in actively pursuing Christ – drawing closer to Him – so our love for Him would shine for all the world to see how truly amazing He is?



That’s just a thought, and I welcome yours.
Until next time,
blake

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