We do not find God!

Eph 2:8  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--9  not the result of works, so that no one may boast.10  For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

......

Eph 2:17  So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;18  for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.19  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,20  built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.21  In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;22  in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

I am tired of people claiming to have “found Jesus”. This is theological nonsense. As the writer of Ephesians reminds us: our relationship with God is “not your own doing; it is the gift of God”.  The fact is that we do not find God – but rather “he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off”. 

Let us give up the search for the newest spiritual experience, and accept that we are already loved by God: We do not find God – instead God finds us.   

To sing:

1.      And can it be that I should gain

        an interest in the Savior's blood!

        Died he for me? who caused his pain!

        For me? who him to death pursued?

        Amazing love! How can it be

        that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

        Amazing love! How can it be

        that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

2.      'Tis mystery all: th' Immortal dies!

        Who can explore his strange design?

        In vain the firstborn seraph tries

        to sound the depths of love divine.

        'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;

        let angel minds inquire no more.

        'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;

        let angel minds inquire no more.

3.      He left his Father's throne above

        (so free, so infinite his grace!),

        emptied himself of all but love,

        and bled for Adam's helpless race.

        'Tis mercy all, immense and free,

        for O my God, it found out me!

        'Tis mercy all, immense and free,

        for O my God, it found out me!

4.      Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

        fast bound in sin and nature's night;

        thine eye diffused a quickening ray;

        I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

        my chains fell off, my heart was free,

        I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

        My chains fell off, my heart was free,

        I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

5.      No condemnation now I dread;

        Jesus, and all in him, is mine;

        alive in him, my living Head,

        and clothed in righteousness divine,

        bold I approach th' eternal throne,

        and claim the crown, through Christ my own.

        Bold I approach th' eternal throne,

        and claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Text: Charles Wesley, 1707-1788 

Ordinary 24 / Pentecost +17

46 Beyond Forgiveness

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 282.
This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.