Pursue

            There I was… just cleaning the bathrooms, minding my own business, when the phrase came.  “To attain, you must pursue.”  Attain what?  Pursue what??  I’m just cleaning the bathrooms here!  But a few seconds go by and I figure it’s a “Holy Spirit Dropping.”

            This was on Saturday, June sixth, so I have been musing over it here and there, wondering what it meant exactly.  I mean, it is a pretty straight forward phrase, right?  But I like to know meanings behind phrases. —Why was I given this thought?  What does it mean to pursue in order to attain? People can attain things without pursuing them, right?  But if people attain something without pursuing it, did they really want it?

            Then this lovely Monday morning, in my daily reading, I stumbled across this perfect verse…

“Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor.”

Proverbs 21:21 NIV

            Don’t you love it when something like that happens?  When the Word just fits perfectly into something you’ve been thinking about, whether consciously or subconsciously?  The word “pursue” is in this verse!  What’s more, the Hebrew word for “find” can mean “attain”!!  This verse fits perfectly with the dropping that I was given two days before!

            So… To attain life, prosperity, and honor, I must pursue righteous and love…  But what is righteousness and love?  Well, it’s a fairly simple answer.  One of God’s names is Jehovah Tsidkenu (sid-kay-noo)… You guessed it; it means, “The Lord our Righteousness.”  (Jeremiah 23:5-6.)  And then you flip over to First John 4:8, it says, “God is Love.”

            So now I say… To attain life, prosperity, and honor, I must pursue God…  A synonym for “life” is “growth.”  “Prosperity” can mean “well-being,” not just riches.  And “honor” is “recognition.”  Who in their right mind does not want to grow, be well cared for, and known?  I believe every human being has a desire for each of those three things.  I think Jesus summed up those three things well in John 10:10, when He said, “I came that they might have abundant life.”  Life to overflow, life to its fullest.

            Once more, I break it down further… To attain abundant life, I must pursue Jesus.

                       What you attain, you must pursue.  What are you pursuing these days?