RomansSample

Pursued By God

…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Rom 5:8

I think that the interesting thing about the Bible is that it is not so much about man’s pursuit of God, but rather God’s pursuit of man. Man was created to have fellowship with God, but Adam’s sin ruined that plan. From Adam until Moses, there was no formal way provided for the atonement of sin. Then when God chose Israel to be his people, he gave Moses the law which were not just commands to be followed to remain in God’s favor but also included sacrifices to atone for sin and to restore people’s relationship with God when they made mistakes. However, like Adam, the Israelites rebelled too and broke the covenant that God had made with them. But God again reached out in love and sent Jesus to die for our sins to make it possible for us to have a relationship with him again. And as Rom 5:10 says, God did this while we were still his enemies.

God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us. He is not an angry God waiting to punish us every time we make a mistake. If He could send his Son to die for us when we were still in rebellion against Him, how much more would He do for us when we are following Him? He will not hold our mistakes against us. All we need to do is to confess and turn back to Him and He will forgive us (1 John 1:9).

We see this demonstrated in the lives of the men of God in the Bible. David was called a man after God’s own heart despite committing adultery and murder. Because the orientation of his life was to follow God and obey Him, God was willing to forgive him when he repented of the mistakes he made, despite their gravity. None of the heroes of faith held up as models in Hebrews 11 were perfect people. Not all of their actions are to be emulated. What is to be copied is that the underpinning of their life was their faith in God and their commitment to Him.

So, if God is willing to go so much out of the way to relate with us despite our flaws, then any barriers in the relationship must be our doing. Are we willing to respond to his overtures? Or do we find his demands too difficult? All that He requires of us is to have faith in Jesus and to live by that faith.

What can you do today to strengthen your relationship with God?