First Class Singles Part II

Number 1

Passionately pursue God, not a person. Why do I say pursue God passionately, relentlessly and single-mindedly? It is because he is the source of authentic life, joy and unconditional and lasting love. Each one of us has a deep longing to be loved unconditionally. If a woman is honest she will say “I want someone to just love me for me, to just want me”. We want someone to love us for whom we are. There is nothing wrong with that desire, it was God who placed that void and longing in our hearts because he is a God of relationship but he wants us to put first things first, him.

Before God created Eve, he had a relationship with Adam first. Many of us are running from relationship to relationship looking in all the wrong places to fill the void. There are people who are addicted to illicit relationships, food, drugs, alcohol, pornography and many other things because they are trying to fill a void or having a high met. However only God can fill this void. That’s why Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. All means with every fiber of your being. What should define you as a man or woman is your relationship with God. Then you will know yourself and yourself worth. To passionately pursue God means spending time with him on a daily basis to the point when he becomes the first thing on your mind at all times.

I saw the need for this because I was in a relationship where I was crazy about this guy. I lost my sense of self-esteem in this relationship and it didn’t work out. I went to bed and woke up with him on my mind. I refused to believe that he was not my package, I said devil you are a liar, and I worked it every way I knew. Did you know someone can be saved and still not for you? I said God, I know this is it and when I finally accepted the reality, that if someone is for me God will tell the person as well as me because God doesn’t do a half job I was able to come to my senses. I said God what happened? He said you know what, you idolized him. I said oh my God, when I read about idols in the Old Testament I simply thought of idols in terms of graven images but he said no, that's not true. Anything you pursue, that you want more than me is an idol. He said, I am a jealous God. If you want your business to succeed, a mate, a house, a car more than God, you are idolizing those things and he’s not having it. God wants you to pursue him.

This is not just for women it is for men as well. David, a man after God’s own heart said in Psalm 63 my flesh, my body longs for you. David desired an intimacy with God more than anything. What do you pursue want in life more than anything? If it’s not God, you are not passionately pursuing him. We don’t understand that the more we pursue God the more he is with us in every facet of our lives, protecting, nurturing and guiding us in the life path he has chosen for us.

By Cheryl Martin
Edited by Susan Majek