The
Chase
The Chase is shorthand
for the pursuit of joy and peace in our lives,
what has been called elsewhere, the pursuit of
happiness. As it turns out, that chase is
unnecessary. God will provide happiness to those
who love him and trust in his love for them.
Instead, God has for each of us another agenda
altogether – a chase of a different sort.
To the world, that is, people who remain estranged
from God, life’s aims consists of -
- indulgences to experience moments of joy;
- endeavors to accumulate wealth to acquire the
security, availability of pleasure, or esteem it
would seem to provide;
- endeavors to accomplish in this life a
statement of personal significance or leave a
personal legacy, through humanitarian, economic
or scientific achievement.
People pursue these things,
because for them this life is all there is, or
even if they believe in an afterlife, it is of
marginal concern, or God’s imperatives pertaining
to it are parked in a minimally serviced,
religious sub-compartment of thinking.
But for the children of God, this present life is
a starter life - the opening volume of an
eternal epic. With this perspective, the cares of
this life become secondary, as we focus on the
pursuits of an eternal being, specifically the
realization and spread of the Kingdom of God.
Consider the following words of Jesus -
Take no thought, saying, “What shall
we eat?” or, “What shall we drink?” or, “With
what means shall we be clothed?” For after
all these things do the nations seek, and your
heavenly Father knows that you have need of
them.
But seek first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness, and all these things shall be
added to you. [Mt 6:31-33]
Elsewhere, Jesus says –
The cares of this world,
the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of
other things entering in, chokes the word, and
it becomes unfruitful. [Mk 4:19]
And pertaining to his coming,
just prior to the Day of Wrath –
Pay attention to yourselves, to
prevent that at any time your hearts be
overcharged with overindulgence, drunkenness,
and cares of this life, and so that day come
upon you unexpectedly. [Lk 21:34]
Note how that becoming
preoccupied with even legitimate physical needs in
life is equated to the vices of greed, gluttony
and drunkenness. Like them, it becomes a
distraction from the duties of kingdom
citizenship.
To that end, this topic explains how God wants us
to deal with this life, such that its concerns do
not become all-consuming, and how to become
kingdom-focused instead.
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