The last few years I’ve been in relentless pursuit of Jesus. I’ve written about it extensively on my blog because pursuing Him has been the passion of my heart.
Recently, God began to speak to me in greater depth about “pursuit” and “pressing in”. Both of these things are important but there are some fundamental differences between them.
My pursuit of Jesus was born out of the sheer fact that I happen to like Him a lot! His presence is so enjoyable that all I want to do is have Him near. I’m so swept off my feet and carried away by His love that He is all I can think of day and night! How could I not pursue Him? I finally found the one my heart’s been longing for!
And so I’ve been in relentless pursuit. Not for some casual acquaintance, but I want to possess Him!!!
It’s kind of like when you meet a girl that takes your breath away and every thought is of her. You don’t just wait around hoping something will happen, you begin to pursue!
When I was in junior high there was a girl I liked who lived across town. I was at her house every night after school. I didn’t wait for her to invite me, I just showed up! I’d hop on my bike and ride over to her house, I had no idea what I was going to say when I got there, all I knew was I wanted to see her. I thought she was the prettiest thing on the planet. Sometimes I stopped at the grocery store and would show up on her doorstep with a slice of watermelon or whatever. I got creative! I always found a reason to be there. I was in pursuit!
Now it’s really not all that much different when it comes to Jesus, it’s pretty much like that. His presence is so compelling it makes me want to show up! I keep going back because He’s such a delight to be around.
Pursuit is all about passion, it’s all about first love, and it’s all about keeping love burning. I’m so attracted to Jesus there’s no way I couldn’t pursue Him.
I personally think pursuit is awesome. It’s the language of the Song of Songs. God loves to be pursued and He loves to pursue.
“Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go….” -Song of Songs 3:4
I want to spend the rest of my life and all of eternity in the passion of being near Him and enjoying His presence.
I’m all for romantic love! Especially when it comes to Jesus!
May my flame of love for Him never diminish!
But you know, there is something that happens when you really love somebody. You became determined that no matter what, through the good and the bad, you want to be with that person. Your heart goes beyond emotion to committed determination. This is what pressing in is all about. The determination, that no matter what, you’re going to make this work. You have found something so important to you that it transcends the highs and lows of life. This is where passion meets perseverance. This is what God intended marriage to be like. You don’t quit when life gets tough. You don’t walk away and throw in the towel. The person before you is so valuable to you that no matter what happens you want to be with them, and you are going to make it work, NO MATTER WHAT.
When passion meets persistent perseverance it gives birth to self-sacrificial love. This is what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he said that he “counted all things loss” that he might gain Christ. How many of us are willing to give something up so that we can get something better? I don’t mean trading one relationship for another, but rather coming to the place of self-sacrifice so you can sustain the relationship you’re already in. Paul was so committed to Jesus that he was willing to lay everything at the altar of self-sacrifice in order to make sure that His relationship with Jesus would survive and thrive.
This is what pressing in and pressing on is all about.
He wanted to be “found in Him”, swallowed up by the life of God, and in total union with Jesus Christ. His heart was burning with love that went beyond passion. His love had developed to such a place where the language of his heart and the actions of His life began to be expressed in phrases like “straining toward”, “letting go” and “pressing on”. His life was marked not only by unrelenting desire but also by unrelenting grit- He will have Jesus no matter what. He’s not going to just sit back and hope something good happens- he’s going to press in and press on! Paul had found the love of his life and he was going for it whether it was easy or whether it was hard! The decision of His will and the action of his life is summed up in the words, “I press on…”
“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me… I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 3:12,14
Why do most marriages fail? Because somebody decided not to press on.
When it gets tough do I press on? Am I so in love with Jesus that bright or cloudy days no longer determine my relationship with Him? Have I decided that He is worth so much to me that I will have Him no matter what??
This is the language of God’s love. It’s passion and it’s grit determination; its pursuit, and it’s pressing on.