Have you ever stopped to think about what it means when someone says they’re pursuing God? “Pursuit” is a powerful word. It’s so much more than simply “following” God. People who are pursuing God aren’t lagging behind, showing up late, or halfheartedly chasing after him. They’re all in. Fervently, passionately, unwaveringly in. The Merriam-Webster dictionary actually says that to “pursue” means “to follow and try to catch or capture (someone or something) for usually a long distance or time.” When we truly pursue God, we’re out tocatch his incomprehensible attributes of love, grace, and mercy.

We’re to put away selfish desires and instead put on the likeness and wonder of God. So how do we do it? What does this wondrous pursuit actually look like? Where do we start? What do we do—or not do? In Ephesians 5:1–4, Paul writes clear instructions for people who are pursuing God: Imitate God in all that you do; follow his example; offer yourself fully to him as he offered his Son, Jesus, fully to us. We’re told to wake up, rise with Christ from death to life, and see his light shine upon us. It’s the beginning of a wondrous pursuit that lasts a lifetime. Pursuing God means doing away with selfish desires and detours that might get in the way. It means fully embracing the beauty of God and allowing his love to change us entirely.

Going “all in” would be another way to put it—jumping headfirst into a life that seeks to not only glorify God, but please him. Putting the desires of God before your own and before others. Making God the center of your life—a center around which you choose to revolve, the point on which you build everything else.

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2

This is an excerpt from Jarrid’s devotional, Wondrous Pursuit