Help yourself to the divine nature of God. You can have as much as you want–plate, after plate, after plate…

“What are you after?”

Hmmm. What if Jesus asked me that? What if he asked you?

What am I after? What do I spend the majority of time and effort pursuing? Success? Loving relationships with my family and friends? Good health? A comfortable lifestyle? Happiness?

Too many things run through my mind.

There is nothing bad about any of these. But in my constant quest for these basically good things, I sometimes forget about Jesus. I forget to keep pursuing him. I forget that he is the main thing that I really should be after…

This is what he asked his first disciples to do, and this is what he wants from us. So how did they do it? How did they go after Jesus?

They turned from their old lives. They left what was familiar. They did not run from suffering. And they let him lead. Even when it wasn’t popular. Even when it cost.

That sounds very different than striving solely for comfort and control and good feelings.

God had set His heart upon them and chose them SIMPLY BECAUSE HE LOVED THEM. And He set His heart upon us and chose us just the same.

Sometimes I think there must be a catch. Surely it can’t be this easy…

The One who designed every brilliant star in the sky, every unique grain of sand, every intricate cell in our bodies, takes special care to surround each one of his children with a strong and lasting hem.

He doesn’t do this to constrain us or restrict us, but to keep us safe.

He doesn’t do this to force us to be close to him, but to reassure us that he is close to us.

He doesn’t do this to shrink our world, but to free us to open up to the adventure of life with him.

Does God seem far away right now? Just start talking to him...anyway. Why? Because inviting him in can change things. It can change us. Like Abraham, let's decide to live not on the basis of what we see we can’t do, but on what God said he will do.