Seeking?

by Todd Stewman

We don’t really go looking for God. I think we like to think we do, because it seems more high-minded to be one who seeks after God. But, honestly, when I roll out of bed in the morning, I’m usually just seeking some coffee or a bowl of Raisin Bran. Translation: In my most authentic and unguarded moments, I’m just looking to take care of me and mine.

Abram was in Haran, simply minding his own business and his own stuff, when God approached him with a promise to bless all nations through him. Moses was walking around the desert, tending some sheep and listening to his iPod, when I AM called to him from a burning bush. Shortly thereafter, the average Israelite found himself walking across the bottom of the Red Sea on his way out of slavery, wondering, “Ummm…okay.” David was out of breath when he ran in from the fields on a seemingly normal day. Upon arriving at home, the sweaty teenager was anointed by God’s judge and God’s Spirit as the next king of Israel. Jeremiah was not yet an embryo when God appointed him as a prophet to the nations. The twelve disciples had to be reminded by Jesus that He chose them, not vice versa.

There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. How would it change my daily attempts to relate with God and live out my redemption if I genuinely acknowledged that I never went looking for God in the first place? He came looking for me and now He holds onto me by His grace. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. How would it change my daily interaction with other people if I genuinely acknowledged the fact that God graciously moved toward me, His enemy? When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.