I just love this verse. It has always been so amazing to me that Jesus would care so deeply about each individual soul that He would drop everything and pursue them. But I have to admit, until recently, I had always assumed this verse was talking about people who hadn't come to the Lord yet. People who were lost in the sense that they didn't have a relationship with Him yet. And I still believe that's true. But only part of the story. Recently, the Lord has been whispering to me that maybe it means a lot more than that.
The more I interact with other Christians, the more I realize how broken we are. Even after finding Christ, it's so easy for parts of us to remain broken and in darkness. And for a good portion of my life, I believed that I was alone in this. I was alone in the fact that I continued to make mistakes. Alone in my debilitating fear. Alone in my struggle to build my relationship with Him. Alone in the fact that I felt like I kept disappointing God. Over the past year or so, I have thankfully realized how false that is. Jesus has brought so many people into my life that have helped me to see that I am in good company. It has been such a freeing experience to finally understand that God does not expect me to be perfect. He doesn't need me to fix all my imperfections in order to have a real relationship with Him.
The first time I heard the song Reckless Love by Cory Asbury, I will admit that it pretty much wrecked me. (In a good way.) The words were so beautiful and comforting to me. It quickly became my go-to song. As I continued to listen to it, I continued to gain a deeper understanding for why I felt the way I did. Jesus doesn't just chase down the people who haven't met Him yet. He chases down me, too. He chases down all of us. His love for us is so reckless, that He will keep pursuing us, even when it doesn't make sense and we don't deserve it. The truth is, we are all "the one". Even when we know God and follow Him, we still need Him to come find us. And the beauty is, He does it every time. We are so precious to Him, that He continues to pursue us, even when we make screwing up a way of life. He continues to pursue us, even when we put up walls against Him. He continues to pursue us when we think we have finally blown it for good. He doesn't give up on us. Ever.
I think the biggest lie that Satan has ever told us is that we can be too far gone for Jesus to love us. That we can get to a point where we pushed Him away or screwed up one too many times. We can't outrun His love for us. He tears down every wall, every lie, every mistake, every doubt, every fear, and every shortcoming. He is leaving everything to search for you UNTIL HE FINDS YOU. He is so passionate about you that He won't give up. And any time you try to outrun him again, He will search for you and gently bring you back. Every time.
