Knowing God Wants You
His relentless pursuit to call you home
I was in middle school when I sat in the church classroom. The chairs, red with yellow stripes, sputtered dust as I sat down. The room was closed off by an accordion partition. I sat there, consuming Dots, looking at the instructor tell me about God, but all I had were questions. As she attempted to communicate God’s Word to me, it seemed trivial in light of my concerns. I had been labeled by others as a difficult and noncompliant child, which left me feeling confused, hurt, and dismissed. So little about God and his love made sense as I sat there, in a red chair with yellow stripes, with more questions than I had answers. If others didn’t love me, why would God?
As an adult now in seminary, I read this quote from Henri M. Nouwen’s book The Return of the Prodigal Son: “God wants to find me as much as, if not more than, I want to find God.”* How could this be true? Could he be pursuing me as much as I was pursuing him? Would he relentlessly search to know me? Would he too be labeled rebellious in his pursuit of me?”
Jesus himself reminds us in Luke 15 that he diligently pursues the one. He leaves the ninety-nine without hesitation. Once found, he carries back the one on his shoulders and rejoices. Jesus is labeled a rebel and an outcast as his battered and bruised body carries the cross through the streets of Jerusalem. His crown of thorns mocks him. He is murdered in his pursuit of me.
God doesn’t need me. No, God doesn’t need any of us in order to be complete. He is completely sufficient on his own. But we are his sheep, his children, and he wants us. And there is no end to which he wouldn’t go to pursue the one. It would break the very heart of God to not have one of his children under his protection, blessings, and care. His pursuit to show love to his children is relentless. It never gives up and it never leaves nor forsakes. God is unashamed in how he loves, not caring the names he’s called along the way, the mockery, pain, or even crucifixion in pursuit of us.
Now, years later, I can bask in the blessings of the Father and his healing of my youth. Just as he called me back to him, he calls you, too. As a father welcomes his returning prodigal son with arms stretched out, so the Father waits to embrace you. There is no need to pursue love, acceptance, joy, or peace anywhere else. Turn around, come home. He has never left your side; he has always been there—pursuing you with open arms. He loves you always, all the time. Come home.
Monica Ritchie is a wife, momma, and truth teller. She speaks on local Christian radio and is pursuing an MA in Christian thought from Bethel Seminary. @itsmonicaritchie
*Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 106.