God Seeks Us

In the 70’s there was an evangelistic campaign featuring bumper stickers that said: “I Found It.”  It was hoped that this would inspire curiosity and lead people to ask what the words meant.  Follow up materials would be provided.  The ‘It’ was salvation through Jesus. 

These kinds of big, well-funded campaigns come along every once in a while.  Recently we had the “He Gets Us” emphasis featured in a Super Bowl commercial. 

I have mixed feelings about that campaign.  It seemed to present Jesus as user-friendly. 

And the old “I Found It” campaign had its faults too.  It is not very good theology to present salvation as something you find, as if it as hidden somewhere.  It would be better (though less catchy) to say: “God sought me and I responded.” 

It is a biblical truth that God seeks us before we find him. 

God takes the initiative. He has to take the initiative because we were all born with a sin nature.  That sin nature makes us dull to God.  God takes the first steps to overcome it. 

In theology this is called ‘prevenient grace’.  It is God seeking us out, breaking through the dullness of the sin nature and our spiritual disinterest and showing us that he is there, that he loves us, and offers the gift of salvation through Christ. 

Here are some scriptures that show God making the first move:

• John 1:9, “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”
• Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” 
• Romans 5:6-8, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”
• Acts 17:27, Paul (speaking to Greek pagans) said, “God did this [put nations in the world] so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”

God did the reaching-out first.  He reaches out to all but uses different ways for each person.  He uses symbols we will understand.    

Some examples:

• The wise men from the Christmas story.  They were magi, stargazers.  They sought meaning in the stars.  So what did God do?  He sent them a special star, one that they somehow knew was different and significant and would lead them to the Christ child.  God reached out.  The magi, to their credit, followed.  The story told in Matthew 2. 
• Peter and his brother Andrew.  They were fishermen; Jesus spoke to them about what they knew. “They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  ‘Come, follow me’, Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men’.  At once they left their nets and followed him,” (Matthew 4:18-19). 
• The woman at the well.  The woman came to draw water.  Jesus talked to her about water, then pivoted the conversation to talk about another kind of water, saying, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst, (John 4:13). 

A star, fishing, water…God spoke in a way that the people could understand.

For me, it was an idea.  I think I’ve always been an idea person.  So, God gave me the idea of God.  It did not come from church, because I did not come from a churchgoing family.  Though my dad made a few comments about God here and there, I did not get most of my thoughts about God from him.  Though it was a good, loving family and I wouldn’t trade it, I didn’t get much input about God there. 

But God made up for it.  He dealt with me directly.  I just somehow knew about Him, that he existed, was powerful and created everything.   And when I heard of Jesus I accepted that as part of knowing God, though I didn’t know how Jesus fit in exactly.  I did not fight these ideas at all.  They were comfortable to me. 

Of course, they were incomplete, but I had enough to follow. 

Later, when I was maybe age 9 or 10, I was invited to Sunday School by a friend.  We would walk the 1/3 mile down the street to the church, La Mirada Church of the Nazarene, and then walk home after Sunday School.  Later, my friend dropped out but I kept going.  Sometimes I would stay for children’s church.  There was a very evangelistic children’s church leader named Josie Villalobos (who is still alive, I last saw her less than a year ago) who preached and gave an altar call.  I went forward. I didn’t want to go to hell.  I also went forward other times just to seal the deal.  The offer of forgiveness was the best deal I’d ever heard. 

Eventually I encountered the ways of Christianity more specifically.  I had a little trouble with some of it, like the Trinity and Christ’s divinity, but eventually I accepted those beliefs. 

This is all to say that God sought me out.  I didn’t so much find Him as He found me.  He made the first move, then I responded.  And the first thing he used was the idea of Himself as an existing, powerful, holy presence. 

How did God seek you out? 

God seeking us is the first step.  It is our responsibility to respond.  But why would anyone not want to respond to this offer–the Creator of the Universe reaching out to you?