New Year's Quest

         It's that time of year again, New Year's resolutions.  For those that make them the question is how long will it last?  Most don't make it past January but it doesn't hurt to try.  I would like to challenge you to try something different.  We'll call it a quest.  The quest is this: pursue hard after God this year.

Let's start with a few questions.  How well do you know God?  How much could you write about God?  Would you be able to write a sentence, a whole paragraph, fill up a page?  How accurate would what you write be?  How practical or useful would it be?  Those are all questions with which I hope you wrestle. 

         God wants us to know Him.  Consider what Jesus says in John 17:3 - this is eternal life that they know You are the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  A lot of us think of eternity in many different ways.  Some think of the splendor of heaven, the pearly gates the streets of gold, asking your favorite Bible characters questions and other thoughts about what might or might not happen in heaven.  Jesus said however, eternal life  is knowing God.  That seems to be a lot different from how we think of heaven.  God give us a lifetime here on earth to get to know Him and then eternity to know Him further.  Since God is transcendent and incomprehensible it will take an eternity to know Him.

         I love what Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 9:23-24 - if you boast, don't boast about your wisdom strength, or wealth, boast alone that you know and understand God who practices love justice and righteousness in the earth.  It seems like we waste a lot of time in things that do not matter.  Let's make 2014 different from every other year.  Pursue hard after God.