To stay the course.
To persevere.
To run the race.
To not just go through the motions... but to live it... breathe it... seek Him... be relentless in my pursuit of Him... that is my desire.
It is funny that this seems to be the way I started off this year... and this is the way I am ending the year. It seems I have come full circle, right back to the same place I was just over 11 months ago. I wonder how that can be... how that is... why this has happened... and I have an answer.
God is relentless.
He pursues us even when we don't realize it. He leaves behind the 99 to find the 1 who is lost... who has strayed... who has taken a detour... who has gotten off track... and He brings them back into the fold. Unwilling that one of His should be lost... He is relentless in His pursuit.
Luke 15:3-4 (New King James Version)
3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
Yet in His pursuit He is not overbearing... never burdensome... not too much to handle... and willing to gently handle us. He is gracious towards us as we tend to wander away, allowing us to go our own way... but for a while. And in this time He allows the trials to come so He can refine us in the fires... but these are fires that do not burn... but restore. Through the tribulations He teaches. Through the storms He builds faith. Through the consequences of our own choices He grows character in each of us... giving us a testimony to share with those who may find themselves in the same storm we were just in.
There is always purpose to what He does... what He allows... how He works... and the way He ties it all together... for the good of those who belong to Him.
Romans 8:28 (New King James Version)
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
At times it seems to not make any sense. As we focus on the moment... God focuses on the lesson. As we see the trial... God sees the outcome. As we see failure, defeat, shame, or sorrow... God sees faith, victory, righteousness, and joy. As we see sins as crimson as blood... God cleanses us as white as snow.
If we could only get a glimpse of what He sees, how would that change the way we live?
Would we pursue Him more... or less?
Would we be more willing to wander away since we know He is full of grace? Or would we cling to Him... pursue Him... chase after Him relentlessly... as we understand more and more just what it is that He has done for us?
What are we willing to change... to let go of... to lay down at the foot of the cross of the one who laid down His life for us?
Nothing? Anything? Everything?
His relentlessness led Him to Calvary... the place where He allowed mere men to take His life... so that through His death... His death on the cross... and through His resurrection... His life can be found by us.
He purges us from all unrighteousness. He cleanses us from all sin. He blots out all of our transgressions. By His stripes we are healed.
Not because we deserve it... but because He is unwilling to lose us.
He forgives out of grace... He forgets out of mercy... He is relentless in His pursuit of us... He restores... He cleanses... He redeems... He heals... and he does it all out of His love for us.
Should we not also be relentless in our pursuit of Him... out of our love for Him?
And in turn forgive out of grace... forget out of mercy... and live a life of love out of the love He gave us?
I think so. Of course thinking so and doing so are 2 different things... but it is a step in the right direction. So be relentless in your pursuit of God. Run the race He has laid out before you...be willing to endure... to persevere... and strive for the prize of the upward call.
Philippians 3:13-14 (New King James Version)
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.Hebrews 12:1-3 (New International Version, ©2010)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Fix your eyes on the Lord... stay the course... walk the path... you can do it.
Be unwilling to yield... unwilling to lose ground... unwilling to let go of the hem of His robe.
Be relentless.
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