Pursuing something is to seek or continuously investigate a matter with the intention of finding deeper knowledge and understanding. To pursue God is to seek to know Him as He has revealed Himself and to learn to do what pleases Him.
The pursuit of God is not without benefits to the one who pursues. It edifies the believer and spiritually builds him or her up in the things of God. When rightly applied, the benefits of personally pursuing God should not remain for our own benefit but should be used to serve His purposes, advance His kingdom, and bring Him glory.
In this article, pursuing God for His glory means faithfully using what we gain from knowing and following God to serve His purposes. God graciously uses His people in the advancement of His work on earth, and this brings Him glory.
Pursuing God for Personal Edification
Although our minds will never fully comprehend God and His works, He has revealed Himself to us through general and special revelation. General revelation is seen through creation and nature (Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:20) and through the human conscience and the moral law (Rom. 2:15). Special revelation has been given through Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:1–2) and through the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16).
For what God has revealed, He wants His children to continually pursue and know Him. God promised that those who seek Him will find Him. He says:
“I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” (Prov. 8:17)
Believers pursue God through several ways, including:
Reading and studying God’s Word
Here, the believer gets to learn God’s will as written in the Scriptures and gets instructed on how to live a life worthy of the Lord.
Prayer and fasting
Here, the believer submits to God’s will and communicates with Him, making requests known to Him (Phil. 4:6).
Doing what God commands
Here, the believer gets to practice what he professes. Jesus warned that it is not enough to call Him Lord. Those who belong to Him must also do what He says (Lk. 6:46; Matt. 7:21). Loving Christ is expressed through obedience to His commands (Jn. 14:15). The believer denies himself, carries his cross, and follows Christ daily (Mk. 8:34).
Diligence in pursuing God requires unrelenting persistence from the believer. As believers seek God through His Word, prayer, and obedience, they are increasingly shaped by what they learn from Him. They are edified through instruction in His Word, learn how to communicate with Him through prayer, and learn to obey His commands. As a result, the believer’s will increasingly aligns with God’s will, spiritual discipline develops, and spiritual fruit is produced.
Are you diligent in your private pursuit of God? God wants you to pursue Him and be transformed through knowing and following Him.
Pursuing God for His Glory
However, the benefits you gain from the private pursuit of God should not remain for individual advantage only. They should also be used to serve the greater purpose of advancing His kingdom. The believer’s participation in the advancement of God’s kingdom brings Him glory.
Jesus is the best example of someone who perfectly sought and obeyed the Father’s will. After completing His earthly mission, He was exalted by the Father and given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18; Phil. 2:8–11). He then used that authority to commission His disciples to make disciples of all nations. He said:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20)
Jesus did not use the authority He had received merely for Himself. He used it to send His disciples into the world to make disciples. Through this Great Commission, the gospel has gone to people of many nations.
Likewise, the benefits you gain from your private pursuit of God should be used for His glory. How do you use the benefit gained from studying and understanding God’s Word? Do you use it to instruct others in sound teaching? How do you use the benefit of knowing how to pray? Do your prayers benefit anyone else other than you? Is there a place in your private prayer life where you intercede for brothers and sisters in the household of faith?
In 1 Kings we read the story of Solomon, a young king who had just taken the reins of the kingdom of Israel after the death of David. God appeared to him in a dream and asked him to ask whatever he wanted. Despite all the things Solomon could have asked for as a king, he asked for wisdom. He specifically asked for an understanding heart to govern God’s people and discern between right and wrong (1 Ki. 3:9). He did not seek to use it to gain power, manipulate others, or to boost his social status, but to govern God’s people. The wisdom he asked for was intended for the good governance of the kingdom. The Lord was pleased with Solomon’s request because he asked for something that would benefit God’s people rather than merely himself (1 Ki. 3:10–14).
What have you gained from pursuing God diligently? Have the benefits of your private pursuit of God led to the greater purpose of advancing His kingdom? Or are they only serving you? Our private pursuit of God should produce lives that contribute to the advancement of His kingdom.
Prepared in Private
The private intimacy of pursuing God and learning from Him prepares believers for the great mission of advancing His kingdom, which ultimately brings Him glory. Jesus spent His earthly ministry teaching His disciples as they followed and watched Him. This equipped the disciples for the Great Commission and prepared them to carry out their mission after His ascension.
At times, the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant in His teaching, especially when He used parables. But Jesus would separately explain to them the meaning of the parables and their applications. He did all that to prepare them for the work He would entrust to them after His ascension.
The time you spend in private prayer and fasting, in reading and studying the Word, is time well spent in intimacy with God and preparation for the mission of advancing His kingdom. It is this private pursuit of God that prepares you to apply the things learned privately to public ministry.
You cannot effectively stand before the world if you have not been prepared by a private life of pursuing God. Your public living is evidence of a private devotion to God or the lack thereof. You cannot consistently live a countercultural life if you lack training from a private lifestyle of pursuing God.
A husband who privately pursues God edifies himself but is also equipped to love his wife and lead his family in a way that pleases God. A wife who privately pursues God builds herself up but is also equipped to respect her husband and build a stable home. Children who privately pursue God learn to walk in truth and bring great joy to their parents (3 Jn. 1:4). Families that privately pursue God help preserve faith for the next generation and are better equipped to build strong churches.
Christians who pursue God privately reap personal benefits of spiritual discipline and growth, but they also become good representatives of Christ to the world by the fruit they produce. The fruit Christians bear can point unbelievers toward God’s kingdom, and if they believe and are saved, God receives all the glory.
Pastors and elders who privately pursue God are strengthened personally and are better equipped to lead God’s flock in righteous living and sound teaching. On the contrary, Bible teachers who do not privately pursue God can become skilled public speakers or motivational speakers who connect well with their listeners through eloquent language and engaging stories while lacking the spiritual depth and dependence on God that should accompany biblical teaching. These preachers then attract people who themselves have not been equipped through sound biblical teaching and faithful discipleship. Paul warns Timothy of the same, saying:
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4)
Preachers and believers who do not privately pursue God can reinforce one another in error and cause great harm to themselves through their distortions.
Churches that corporately pursue God build strong disciples who stand firm on God’s truth in the face of prevailing cultural values in their societies. On the contrary, churches that do not corporately pursue God can produce unprepared believers that are tossed about by the winds of prevailing trends.
To further God’s kingdom, we have to be prepared from our private pursuit of God to use the benefits we have gained to bring Him glory. Are you being trained in your private pursuit of God to use what you have learned or gained for His glory?
The Corporate Pursuit of God’s Glory
The fruits that the Church of Christ bears corporately can either bring honor to God before the world or bring ridicule upon His name. Scripture warns that the conduct of God’s people can cause His name to be blasphemed among unbelievers (Rom. 2:24). Believers are also called to live such good lives among unbelievers that they may glorify God (1 Pet. 2:12). When the Church bears good fruit, its witness can point people toward God and contribute to the advancement of the kingdom. On the contrary, when the Church produces bad fruit, it can bring ridicule on God’s name and damage its witness to the world.
One of the good fruits that the Church can produce that brings God glory is love. During the Last Supper Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment, saying:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn. 13:34–35)
Love for one another is not optional for believers. Christ gave it to us as a commandment. Love is how Christians are to be identified as Jesus’ followers. By loving one another, God receives the glory because our love demonstrates to the world that we belong to Christ and can point people toward Him. Such love is expressed within a corporate body of believers—a church.
While it is possible for a Christian to pursue God for His glory in isolation, it is not the pattern encouraged by Scripture. As iron sharpens iron, Christians are to sharpen one another, and this is best done in fellowship. Christians in fellowship build deep relationships, develop mutual care for one another, uplift one another and bear each other’s joys and burdens (Gal. 6:2). Scripture encourages believers not to neglect meeting together but to encourage one another (Heb. 10:25). Pursuing God as a Christian fellowship results in many benefits that glorify God.
One of those benefits is fostering accountability within the church. By holding each other accountable, God receives glory when His children uphold truth and righteous living. Paul writes in Galatians 6:1:
“If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.”
Paul’s advice would be difficult for a believer in isolation to follow. The believer could privately be pursuing God faithfully but, when a need arises that requires accountability, may not have another believer available to help. As Scripture warns, “Woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” (Ecc. 4:10). In fellowship, if one believer falls, another lifts them up. Here, believers pursue the restoration and spiritual well-being of other believers, and this brings God glory.
Another benefit of corporately pursuing God for His glory is the increased scope of our collective effect. Paul encouraged believers to, “do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). Whereas this can be achieved by individual Christians, doing good as a corporate body can strengthen and extend the reach of that ministry.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul praised the churches of Macedonia (which included congregations like Philippi and Thessalonica) for their generosity in providing financial relief to the impoverished church in Jerusalem (2 Cor. 8:1–5). Although believers in Macedonia could have individually sent relief to Jerusalem, they corporately expressed their love and blessed the church in Jerusalem. But first, they gave themselves corporately to the Lord and then gave to the church in Jerusalem (v. 5). By pursuing the welfare of a church far away, the churches in Macedonia collectively pursued the good of another church, demonstrating how a group of believers could cooperate in meeting the needs of fellow Christians to the glory of God.
Scripture affirms that: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil” (Ecc. 4:9). Christians in a fellowship can accomplish together what may be more difficult for individuals to accomplish alone and they receive a good reward for it. For example, Christians in a fellowship can send out and support more missionary work than what an individual believer alone can do. Christian fellowship therefore strengthens the Church’s ability to advance the work of God’s kingdom for His glory.
Christians in a fellowship get to pursue God with one accord. Speaking corporately to the people of Judah who were living in rebellion, God assured them:
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:13)
Although this promise was originally given to the exiled people of Judah, it illustrates the principle that God calls His people to seek Him wholeheartedly. The Church are His people and as we come together to seek Him wholeheartedly in one accord, we present the needs of the Church He heads and loves, and this brings Him glory.
Our pursuit of God, whether private or corporate, should lead to the greater purpose of glorifying Him. Let us not pursue God only for our own benefit but for His glory.
Amen.
