God Wants to Be Pursued!

From the moment He created Adam, down through the centuries to this very moment, God pursues an intimate relationship with us—more specifically, you and me.

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Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. —Jeremiah 24:7

God wants to be pursued!

To set the stage of this love affair, consider the enduring elements of romantic relationships. Lovers are all in. Their minds are consumed with each other. They talk constantly, want to be around each other, and enjoy each other’s presence, touch, smell. Their intimacy deepens as they make themselves more mutually vulnerable. They look for ways to express their love for each other. They trust each other. Rereading their text messages, emails, cards, and letters makes them grin from ear to ear, hearts fluttering with desire and attraction. Any hesitancy or lack of desire for mutual intimacy signals something wrong in the relationship.

We understand all this from a human relationship perspective.

Guess what? God wants the same level of sweet intimacy!

 

God’s Intentional Love for Us

From the moment He created Adam, down through the centuries to this very moment, God pursues an intimate relationship with us—more specifically, you and me. Even after our relationship was severed by sin, He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay sin’s drastic penalty to make a way for us to be reconciled and restored with Him.

In His love letter to us, He outlines His unconditional and eternal love for us. He longs for ongoing commitment and intimacy with us. Throughout His Word, He beckons us with desire and promise of blessing—but it is an “all in” relationship.

 

An “All-In” Relationship

  • He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6)
  • Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul. Then they took an oath before the Lord with a loud voice…and all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them. (2 Chronicles 15:12, 14-15)
  • Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! (Psalm 119:2, 10)
  • And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength. (Mark 12:33)
  • And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul then I will give you the rain for your land in its season. (Deuteronomy 11:13-14)
  • Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. (1 Samuel 12:24)
  • And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)
  • “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” (Joel 2:12)

 

Our Love for God

Just like a fervent lover, He longs for us to actively seek Him, to read His love letter to us, to intensely love Him, to willingly follow Him, to speak with Him throughout the day, to joyfully praise Him, to lovingly serve Him with our entire beings—heart, soul, mind, and body. Even should we stray from Him, His love compels us to quickly repent and return to Him with our whole heart so the warmth and intimacy of the relationship may be restored.

If you do not know Him, I invite you to fall in love with Him today. It will be the most enduring, fulfilling relationship you will ever know.

If you do know Him and are walking in His intimacy, fall in love with Him all over again!

 

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on https://natestevens.net/god-wants-to-be-pursued-divine-relationship/

 

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

The views and opinions expressed by Kingdom Winds Collective Members, authors, and contributors are their own and do not represent the views of Kingdom Winds LLC.

About the Author

A lifelong student of Scripture, Nate Stevens has also enjoyed a banking career in a variety of leadership roles. He is the author of Matched 4 Life and Deck Time with Jesus as well as a contributing author on several of the Moments Books (Billy Graham Moments, Divine Moments, Spoken Moments, Christmas Moments, Stupid Moments, Cool-inary Moments, etc.). He writes online devotionals for ChristianDevotions.us and SingleMatters.com as well as articles for several other publications. Additionally, he leads Fusion, a Christian singles ministry he co-founded. A popular speaker and teacher at conferences, seminars and Bible study groups, he speaks on a wide variety of topics. He currently lives near Charlotte, North Carolina, with his beautiful wife, Karen, and is a proud dad of two awesome kids, Melissa and Mitchell.