The Pursuit of God

This morning my devotional time took me to A. W. Tozier's book "The Pursuit of God". He writes, "If we truly want to follow God we must seek to be other-worldly. This I say knowing well that THAT word has been used with scorn by the sons of this world and applied to the Christian as a badge of reproach. So be it. Every man must choose his world. If we who follow Christ, with all the facts before us and knowing what we are about, deliberately choose the Kingdom of God as our sphere of interest I see no reason why anyone should object. If we lose by it, the loss is our own; if we gain, we rob no one by so doing. The "other world," which is the object of this world's disdain and the subject of the drunkard's mocking song, is our carefully chosen goal and the object of our holiest longing."* Another writer I read often calls this world "actuality" and the spiritual world "reality".

Which world do you strive to live in? Which world do you lay up treasures in? Which world captures your heart, your soul, your mind? Which do you love?...this world, the seen, actuality or God, the unseen, Reality?

If you were a betting person...would you let it all ride on the unseen? Would you be willing to cut your moorings in the safeness of the actual harbor and launch out into the deep reality which is known as God? To be able by faith to arrive at the Place where your total dependence and daily sustenance is on the One and from the One you cannot see but know is there?

My Lord is a person. A flesh and bones person. He lived, he died and He lives again. He ever lives to make intercession for his people. Is your life the answer to his prayers? (His prayer can be read in John 17.)

The goal is God. The beginning is God. The end is God. Reality is God.

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you." The funny thing about that statement is this: if you seek the Kingdom of God the goal becomes God Himself and the other things lose their appeal. You no longer crave the adulation of men, the selfish indulgences, the things or possessions, or the success that money brings. (the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life). To know God and be able to fellowship with Him, and to know Christ and abide in Him, and to experience the pure pleasure of His Presence is, quite frankly, pure joy and pure love.

Begin today to focus on the unseen yet real world. There you will find eternal life.

In Him,
Lily

*page 57 of "The Pursuit of God"