Pursuit, Proposal & the Promise of God
By Pastor Tim Klassen
My girlfriend knew a proposal was coming. We had been dating for nearly 4 years and we had already talked about when we might get married. We passed all the required milestones of declaring our “I love you’s” and discussing how many children we wanted and so on. I wanted to make the proposal something special, so with help from her cousin from Boston, we arranged a surprise trip to Cape Cod. The only place she thought we were going was over the border for dinner for my birthday with my parents. The real surprise came when they brought us to the Buffalo Airport after dinner. She learned we were going to Cape Code to visit her cousin. Her Mom had packed her bag for her and the shifts she thought she was scheduled for in the next few days at work were all fake (that’s right, her boss was even in on it!). The next day we went to the beach by the Chatham Lighthouse, where I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. That was 15 years ago now — but it’s a day I will never forget!
As I reflect on our story, from our dating years until now, I am reminded of how we both made a decision to pursue each other. I did not sit at home and simply pray that God would bring me a wife. I made a personal effort to look for one! And when I found the one I believed was for me, I pursued her! Even by the time I proposed, we had such a mutual love and depth in our relationship that I’m quite sure I could have simply pulled a ring out of my pocket after watching a documentary on farming and she would have said yes! But I continued to pursue her, and she continued to pursue me! Even to this day, we choose to pursue each other and go on date nights and show each other that we are the highest priority in each others lives (apart from God). That is, in my view, what a healthy relationship ought to be.
The Bible portrays our relationship with God in a similar light. Firstly, God chooses to pursue us. Not only did He create us and give us life, but He continually and consistently shows up in our lives to reveal Himself and His love for us. Jesus declared that His mission in coming to the earth was to “seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). The Apostle Paul explains how God has proven his love for us “by sending Christ to die for us.” (Romans 5:8). God’s pursuit of us is made clear through Christ. The question is, are we pursuing Him?
One of my favourite of all the promises of God is found in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Those who pursue the God of the Universe will find Him. As surely as I know my love for my wife and our own journey together, I know that those who pursue the truth with all their heart will find it. And what they will find is not a concept or a religion, nor will they find a denomination or a creed—what they will find is a person, and His name is Jesus.
This summer, may you pursue the God who has already pursued you. May you accept His proposal for you to belong to Him. May you experience the fulfillment of the glorious promise of God, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”