Relentless Pursuit

The thoughts on my heart tonight are this:

How lucky are we to be pursued by a Relentless Lover? Now, I know the image that comes to mind is probably somebody flying down a creepy, dark path, with some great shadowy figure in hot "pursuit," but that's NOT the image I'm thinking of. The image I'm thinking of is that of God, being likened to the Bride-Groom of the church. And He does pursue us relentlessly in this: No matter how times we mess up, God is ALWAYS there to forgive us. Always. It doesn't matter what we do, if you are a child of God, we have an unlimited number of second chances. His mercies truly ARE new every morning. How amazing is that? That no matter what we did the day before, we wake up in the morning with a clean slate, a blank page, a fresh start. God has forgiven and forgotten, and we get another chance to try and get it right, although of course, we'll never get it a hundred percent. And no matter HOW many times we fall, God is still there to pick us up.

I feel like that's a pretty great analogy: We're learning to walk, and well, we've all watched little kids try and learn to walk. They toddle around, take a few tentative steps, and usually end up falling onto their butt! Maybe they cry a little, maybe they sit a while, but then they get back up and start the process all over. And, as we grow older, we get better at walking, but sometimes, we still turf it. Sometimes we even biff it HARD, like, nose dive, face plant hard. How many times do we slip on a patch of ice, or trip over a rock, or step on our own shoe-laces. Or even just fall over the invisible lines? (I hope I'm not the only clutz who does this!) And it doesn't matter how many times we fall. It's not like we ever say to ourselves "Oh no, I fell down. Maybe I shouldn't get up. What if I fall again?!" We don't usually think much of it, we just get on up and keep walking, as if it never happened. But how many times, in the course of our lives, do we fall hard, spiritually, or emotionally, and have the desire to just not get back up again? We think "I'll only fall again, so why bother trying?" Why do we think this? It's never the thought that comes when we fall physically. It's just an undeniable part of life; it happens to the best of us. Maybe that needs to be more our attitude when we fall down in life. And here's another thought that I find rather inspiring. God always believes in us. God is always there whispering "Get back up. Try again. You can do it! I have faith in you!" Even when we can't hear it, He IS there.

And as I mentioned before, sometimes we we trip over things. Like the patch of ice you didn't know was there, or the rock that magically appears in your path. In life, how many of these are put there by Satan, just TRYING to trip us up? How often does he plant things in our path, just to test us? And how often, when we start to slip, do we reach for God, the way you reach toward a friend trying to keep your balance? Or do we more often just allow ourselves to fall, rather than deign to reach out to the One who can help us? Or sometimes, we trip over our shoe laces. How often do we leave loose ends hanging out for us to trip over later? How often do we procrastinate, put something off and put it off and put it off, until eventually we fall over it? Or do we allow things in our life that eventually trip us up? Or do we leave something out, forget to clean it up, that eventually ends up as an obstruction in our path? Where is your weakness? Where's that loose end that you don't tie up? Is it what flashes across your computer screen late at night when no one else is up? Or in the pages of the books you read? Or even in the words that come from the one un-tamable beast: what slips off your tongue? Or sometimes, we just fall, and there's no apparent reason. I thin, spiritually especially, this happens more often than maybe anything else. We're going along just fine, things are dandy, and then randomly, out of the blue, we just trip and SMACK, flat on our faces. We trip over our own feet, get in our own way, or fall for no apparent reason. It happens spiritually, too. We just hit a slump, and don't do the things we should.

Here's my last analogy: Sometimes we fall playing sports. Imagine a basketball or a football game. Intense, right? You're fighting for something! You want to WIN!! How often do we fight with something, battle? Sometimes, we fall doing battle for God. Our heart is in the right place, we're doing everything we should, you're playing your heart out, giving it all the guts you've got. And at the end, the score-board still shows the undeniable loss. Sometimes it happens, regardless of how hard we try. But the players, instead of getting frustrated (although they do) they don't quit. They just determine to do better next time! That needs to be our attitude. But. On the flip side, how often do we do battle with God? We have that pet sin that we just can't quite take that's "Not really that bad" or maybe you're one of those in the battle for your soul: God is trying to woo you, and you're fighting with everything you have, and you just end up falling flat on your face.

And so it comes full circle, because once again, can't we be thankful that we are pursued by the Relentless Lover? Now matter how often we fall, or mess up, God is ALWAYS there to pick us back up, set us on our feet, give us another shot. And for those of you out there who DON'T know Christ as your Savior, I believe He's pursuing you, too. He pursued you all the way to the cross. Can you imagine the kind of love that must take, to lay down your life for someone who doesn't even like you? Who even despises you, for we are told that we have despised God. THAT is the picture of the Relentless Lover. He pursues you without tiring, without ever giving up hope until the moment you take your last breath, because He pursued you all the way to the cross, just as He pursued me all the way to the cross, and as He even now pursues me, guiding me along this crazy path called life, and waiting patiently for me to return when I stray away, whispering, calling my name, urging me to come back to the path that's right...THAT, dear ones, is the picture of God's Relentless Pursuit.

xoxo,
Erika Rose