Scripture is the story of the relentless pursuit of God to bring people back into relationship with himself. The Bible is very clear that God will go to great lengths to make this happen so that we can be made right with God. God is willing to sacrifice his own son, part seas, defeat mighty armies, forgive sins, flex his divine muscle and even conquer death to reconcile us to himself. The question for us is this – what are we willing to endure to accept God’s transforming work in our lives?
If God is relentless then we should expect His pursuit of our transformation to result in some things that are difficult, even impossible for us to do on our own. I am reminded of Job who said, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” – Job 13:15. We should be willing to humbly submit and even surrender to God’s work in our lives so that God can accomplish His purposes. I suspect there are times I feel like Jonah the prophet…I am willing to do this but not that based on my own comfort zone or expectation for how I think things should be. Instead I really need to listen and let God change by my thinking and my journey.
P.S. I am not implying in this post that God needs our permission to do what He wants.
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Hey Matt. Great post! Your questions/comments are expecially appilcable to church leaders who are to LEAD, not stand back and watch others be used for God’s holy purpose. I’m reminded of SCC’s song, “What About The Change”. There ought to be something different in our lives – and that something different is surrender to God’s greater purpose.
May we never forget that this life is only preparation for the next.
John…hope you are doing great brother. Amen!