Monday, September 30, 2013 - 4:50 pm

Yesterday, Pastor Kip began a series called 'Here I Am'. The phrase certainly relates to our response to God, but in the first message of his series, Kip focused on a fact that we don't often consider - it also relates to His response to us. Yes, believe it or not, God doesn't just love us, He actually likes us! He wants to be found by us, and will position Himself in such a way as to be found by us. Kip spoke from many verses in the Bible this week, including Isaiah 55:6; Isaiah 58:9; and Jeremiah 29:12-14. The fact that this concept shows up in the prophets, who we often think only spoke of punishment and sin, shows that this has always been, and will always be, the heart of God. If He can look at people who have completely turned their backs on Him and say, "If you would only search for me again, I would let you find me", then why would we ever think that He can't be found by us? The perfect example of God making Himself accessible to humanity, to be found and understood, was when He literally came down and walked the earth in the person of Jesus. John 14:7-9 says, " 'If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on you do know him and have seen him.' / Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.' / Jesus answered: 'Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father....' " I get the feeling that Jesus was God's way of jumping up and down, waving His arms and shouting, "I'm right here! Come and find me!" Is it any wonder that large crowds of people followed Him around everywhere He went? God has already made the first move towards us, in Jesus and His death for our redemption, but He'll never give us more of Himself than we want. As we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us with the same urgency and intensity that we have. Where do we spend our time and energy? What do we spend our time thinking about? What are we seeking? Do we get to a certain point with God and stop, and say, "OK, that's close enough"? God is always sending an invitation to press in and get closer. If we're lacking a hunger for God, maybe it's because we've ben filling up on ourselves. Let's start building spiritual disciplines now, the consistency and desire will gradually build as we do.