Passionate Pursuit
“When You said, “ Seek My face,” my heart said to You, Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.” Psalms 27:8 NAS

What causes one to pursue passionately? The athlete, who rises before dawn to go out to the running path and run into the dawn? The musician who will play until their fingers are numb…all to bring just that extra step toward perfection? The lover whose every waking moment is toward his intended, and how to win her heart?

What is it that makes our hearts cry out for a more real, a more clear experience in the presence of God? Is it pain, the pain of loved ones in dire trouble, that robs our sleep and causes us to spend the wee hours with the only One who can help? Is it our own brokenness and neediness, finding finally in Christ, a Man who will NOT lie, a love that never disappoints? Is it the smoldering love that comes from a heart always melting with gratitude? Gratitude for answered prayers, loved ones rescued and delivered, life breaking needs met, bodies healed of dangerous illness, children restored? Prodigals returned?

All of these things can drive us, to run, with all that is in us, towards the One who is the ultimate Lover and Bishop of our souls. Our precious Friend who sticks closer than a brother. Our Lamb who took our sin upon Himself, so that we could find favor with God. His passionate giving of Himself becomes the impetus for our passionate pursuit….of Him.

For, ultimately, the truth lies here: We love, because He first loved us. Before any of us could pursue God, He came running after us, passionately pursuing us. In our lost state, in our pain, in our anger, in our brokenness. At our most unlovely, He did not bail. He stood fast; His love our anchor.

The wonder, to me, of this passion, is that it is forever renewable. You may feel from time to time that your passion has become cold, that your limbs are tired of the pursuit. But, in only takes a moment. One moment. One moment in the presence of that Amazing Grace. In the face of Boundless Love. In the memories of His goodness in years gone by. It only takes one moment, for the fire of that passion to fully ignite again, as full blazed as in the years of our youth.

There is an old chorus: He’s as close as the mention of His name: Jesus. I pursue You!!

~ Debbie Ecker