For my 34th year of life, I am claiming the word "pursuit" as my focus. Pursuing God in my thoughts, time, and tongue.
T he Hunt of Pursuit:
"You will seek me and find me, when you seek for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
Have you ever hunted for a lost contract or lost keys? I can see you smile as you read this. According to Jeremiah 29:13 this is how I should search after my God-I should make Him and the knowledge of Him the goal of my hunt.
The Activity of Pursuit:
"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16)
"Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10)
My life should reveal times of activity focused on the activities that God loves and that Christ was engaged in during His time on earth. My life should also have regular times times of stillness and quiet revealing my heart's dedication to know my God. Those watching my life should see through my time, thoughts, and tongue that the most important relationship in my life is that between me and my God.
The Preoccupation of Pursuit:
"I will not let you go unless you bless me!" (Genesis 32:26).
"For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified...so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of man but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2:2, 5)
The one area of my life that I desperately need to cultivate discontentment in is in my spiritual walk with God. I should be desperately seeking Him and His blessing in my life never content with the knowledge that I presently have. If only my life were completely preoccupied with Christ so that I would have no time to worry about the future, no time to ask why, no time to compare myself to others, and no time to want that which God, in His amazing sovereignty, has not given to me at this time. I want God to bless me with the knowledge of Him. I want to be so determined to know Him that I wrestle in my times with Him to understand Him in the deepest passages of Scriptures and to be like Him in the deepest part of who I am.
"Lord, as I seek to keep my gaze on the cross, let my thoughts, time, and tongue be pursuing You and what You love at all times. You have given me another day to point others to You, may I not waste it on the trivial pursuits that so often times overshadow my relationship with You. And should I be writing again 365 days from now, may each period of 24-hours this coming year have ben spent pursuing You."
My passage for the next 365 days:
Psalm 84:
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!
10 For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!