By Dan
Delzell , Special to CP
Have you ever felt like God was pursuing you? If so, did it feel like a cop in a police car coming to arrest you, or more like a paramedic in an ambulance rushing to your rescue?
Have you ever felt like God was pursuing you? If so, did it feel like a cop in a police car coming to arrest you, or more like a paramedic in an ambulance rushing to your rescue?
In his sermon on Mars Hill in Athens, the apostle Paul said, "From
one man God made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth;
and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should
live. God did this 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." (Acts
17:26-27)
So do you view God as a police officer chasing down a suspect, or
a paramedic determined to help save you from death? Actually, both ideas reveal
aspects of why God pursues man.
On one hand, God is like a police officer pursuing a criminal. You
and I are lawbreakers, and we deserve to be arrested by God for our sins against
Him. We deserve to be charged and convicted in God's courtroom. Anyone who sins
is guilty before God.
This is why Paul went on to say, "God commands all people
everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with
justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by
raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31)
But if all you know is the "police officer" aspect of God's
pursuit, you don't know the whole story. You see, "the law was given through
Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17) When Jesus
entered the world, He came to rescue us from our sin and from eternal punishment
in hell.
Jesus said, "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn
the world, but to save the world through Him." (John 3:17)
In other words, Jesus is like a paramedic in an ambulance rushing
to save you from death. Christ came to earth on a rescue mission, plain and
simple. He didn't come here to arrest you and throw you in jail. Instead, He
came to save you.
"Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the
unrighteous, to bring you to God." (1 Peter 3:18)
So when you look in the rearview mirror of your life, do you see
God pursuing you to arrest you, or coming to save you?
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