The pursuit of God

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17

I read that back in the spring of 1608, the people of the Jamestown, VA colony discovered what they thought was gold and so devoted their time and efforts to digging out the precious metal. They let the planting, building and repairing go because they had more important things to do. The colonists probably wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for the natives who provided food.

The ship that they sent back to mother England was heavy with their efforts. This heavy load was a “precious” metal called iron pyrite, also known as “fool’s gold”. They had spent their time in pursuit of an essentially worthless metal.

Those colonists had spent their time and energy on a lookalike mineral. They abandoned everything else in the pursuit of rocks, but even if it had been gold it was still inadvisable to set everything else aside to pursue that one thing.

This is a parable of the way many people spend their lives. They pursue what ends up being fool’s gold and ignore the important matters of life until it is too late. Resolutions for a new year about kicking bad habits or losing weight are worthy goals, but are only temporary. The pursuit of knowing a God who loves you will never be a waste of time.

At Christmas, we celebrated the birth of the baby called “Emmanuel” which means “God is with us”. We celebrate a God who comes looking for us. We celebrate a God who pursues us because that God desires a relationship with us.

2014 will be a great year if we understand that the Creator of the Universe desires to be in a relationship with us and that God will hold nothing back in order to accomplish this goal.

Each Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Coffee Corner we get together to talk and learn from one another. The Lifetree Café – at the Coffee Corner is a conversation Café. You are welcome to drop –in and participate.

You are welcome to come and worship at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Sundays at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. You are welcome as you are questions and all.