God - In "Hot Pursuit"

One of my favorite shows growing up was the Dukes of Hazzard. It always brought a smile to my face to see Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in "hot pursuit" of the Duke boys in "the General". Coltrane would go through deep ditches, unpaved roads, over mountainsides, holes, mud filled lakes, etc. in order to catch up with the dukes. Nothing would stop him.

Those scenes, although purely entertainment, gave me life lessons about going after the things that I want and not letting anything get in the way of my accomplishing the task.

Through the years, I’ve realized some spiritual truths about the strength and beauty of pursuit. The Bible shows our God to be in "hot pursuit" of His children. Whether its the children of Israel in disobedience turning their back on God, time and time again or Saul doing everything he could against God, even persecuting Christians. God always pursued those He loved. We see that in the story of Hosea and Gomer in the book of Hosea, which serves as a picture of Gods continued pursuit of His Church. There we see that God through His unconditional love will move heaven and earth in order to win the hearts of those He has chosen.

How incredible is the message of grace, forgiveness, unconditional love and passionate pursuit that we see throughout Gods story in the Bible. Jesus is our ultimate example. He laid down His life in order to pursue a relationship with us. "Greater love has no man than this… "(see John 15:13) Do you remember the stories of the lost sheep and coin in Luke 15? We see that Jesus loves us so much that He is willing to leave the flock and pursue the one and that he will "tear the house apart" in order to find the loved one who is missing.

No matter what you’ve done, no matter how many times you’ve done it, He never give up wooing you back to His arms and pursuing a relationship with you. He paid the ultimate price for you and no matter how bumpy the road, how deep the ditch, or how fast we run in the other direction, He still pursues us with passion and unending love. How Awesome is our Lord! Take a moment today and if you’ve been running the other direction, stop and allow Him to embrace you with His passionate undying love. How can we not love so great a God!