STOP following and start pursuing

Question is your life with Christ a passive or active action?

No, seriously, do you chase after Him or do you just kinda say He is with me?

That is what I want to explore today, being a follower or a pursuer of Christ.

Now to dig deeper and provide clarity on the two concepts let's define follower versus pursuer.

Being a follower is a passive action. This is akin to following someone on social media. You occasionally see their stuff in your feed but you don't actively go and seek it out. You don't yearn for their content.

This is the opposite of a pursuer. To be in pursuit of something means you're relentless. You're pursuing this person, and you won't stop until it is found and accessed. Aas Jacob put it:

“I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

Genesis 32:26

How many of you realize that pursuit is exactly what God had in mind for us as Christians?

It is true in Matthew 16:24 Jesus said:

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

Matthew 16:24

First, take heed of the words come after. To come after someone IS pursuing someone. Let’s first establish that Jesus does not waste a single word when He speaks. He specifically used the definition of pursuit as the start of explaining discipleship and in turn the intent can be determined that He means for us to fully chase after Him in our actions.

Second take a look at the structure of the sentence, the pursuit comes BEFORE the follow. This means that you following Christ can’t happen without you also pursuing Christ. This is something that many of us forget in our Christian walk.

This walk is more than just declaring Jesus as our Lord and savior. In reality that is only the first step. We have to continue to chase after Christ in all our action. Paul said it best:

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

Philippians 3:12

Paul, as the most prolific writer in the New Testament, we can be assured that he made the declaration of Jesus being Lord yet he even expressed that the path for him was not done. Most of us hope to be as devoted to Christ as Paul was, so how can we think our work ends simply at the declaration?

Now that you have a better understanding of what Christ’s intention is for us in our lives, you may be asking how do I shift my habits from being just a follower to a pursuer of Christ. That is actually really simple and comes in a ton of forms but I will give you two. One will be for those who regularly go to church each Sunday and on for your everyday life interactions regardless though they both take a little initiative on your part.

For my churchgoers the next time you are at church, take the time to go up to someone in church leadership and simply ask how you can help. Then when they give you something to do, treat it better than you treat your job. It is really that simple.

By doing this you are putting in work for God, because your church is God’s house so why not help keep His house in order? Once you start doing that then He will give you more to do for the bible says in

“Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.”

Matthew 25:21

For those of you who need something for their everyday life go out and show raw kindness that makes you have to be vulnerable to someone that needs it. Jesus said this is one of the most important things you can do when He said:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:34-35

Hopefully this helps you today. In the comments below tell the rest of the community how you pursue after God. We would all love to know. Have a great day and God bless!