Monday, January 7
The Soul’s Paradox
I have discovered that many people are puzzled with the idea of pursuing God. I, like many of you, have been introduced to this concept again and again. The idea of pursuing God remains an unexplored discipline for many because, at least for the religious minded, God has already been found (or, at least encountered); or, God has already found us. In either case, the question remains: why seek that which has already been discovered?
We read our books, attend our seminars, follow our favorite speakers or pastors, and work through our most beloved devotional readings. However, is our involvement with such resources enough to constitute a heart that genuinely pursues God? A. W. Tozer gives a diagnosis of this spiritual dilemma:
“Everything is made to center upon the initial step of accepting Christ with no expectation thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared into the coils of a spurious logic, which insists that if we have found Him we need no more seek Him.” (A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, 16.)
This seeming contradiction of pursuing something already discovered is laid to rest when one realizes that pursuing God more accurately expresses for the Christian pursuing more of God and more of His presence in our lives. This could be likened to a husband and wife who truly desires to know more of the one with whom each has entered into a lifelong commitment. Tozer reminds us that to have found God and still pursue Him is indeed “the soul’s paradox of love.” (Tozer, The Pursuit of God, 15.)
I easily and regrettably recount those years in my own Christian life when pursuing God was reduced to a struggle to carve out a few minutes of Bible reading and prayer every day, or reduced to mere penitence in confessing the same old sins over and over again. Static. Settled. Mediocre. These words depict a life that is stuck. The thrilling pursuit of God can become discarded by the monotony of just getting by in life. Have you experienced this feeling? If so, it is time to break from that wearisome experience. The pursuit of God is not some unattainable ideal of the soul, but an actual reality of Christian faith.
At the core of one who desires to pursue God is the cry, “I desire more.” And, I have discovered that this cry is genuinely driven by a holy dissatisfaction. What is meant by a holy dissatisfaction? Join me tomorrow as we answer this question by discovering more about the life of one who truly pursues God.
Psalm 51:10-17; Matthew 5:6