God Is Always Searching For Us

What is the most important and basic characteristic of our Christian religion? For the natural religions, it is always man searching for God. When tribals slaughter animals to offer their blood to their gods. This signifies man's desire to search and to please an Almighty God.

When Muslims fast and cleanse their bodies in preparation for a very long meditation, it is still man in search of God. When Hindus burn themselves and offer their burning bodies to god, it is also man in search of God. For the natural religions, man is always in search of God. Man longs to see God face to face. But in Christianity, it is the other way around. It is not man in search of God: it is God in search of man. That is the good news for us. From the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin and the lost son, we see that God is in search of us. God is looking for us. However, this does not mean that we can lie back and indolently wait to be discovered by God. No! The message actually is this: We are all so important before God that God cannot rest, that God will always be restless, until He is able to see us and have us in His bosom. That is the good news. The Lord tells us in the Gospel that He is always in search of all of us because we are important and precious to Him (Lk 15 : 3 - 7).

We hear that right from the very book of Genesis (Gen 3 : 9 - 11), the first book of the Holy Scriptures. What does God say to Adam? "Where are you? Why are you hiding?" And Adam says, "I am hiding because I am naked." This and many more Scripture passages clearly show that God is looking for man, is always in search of man. Saint John the beloved says, " It was God who loved us first. It was not we who loved God, but it was God who loved us first. We are only responding to God's love."

From the Book of the Prophet Hosea, the Lord says, " Come back to Me with all your heart; do not let fear keep us apart." Again, it is God in search of man. God is interested in man. God is never growing tired, never resting, until we are found and are with Him. Saint Augustine says, "O Lord, how late have I known you and yet my heart is restless until it rests in you."

When we understand that God is in search of man (us), more so than man in search of God, our spiritual experience is greatly enhanced. What does this mean in terms of communication? Over and over we try to hear God's voice to find direction in our lives and we spend countless hours in search of Him, only to find out that God has been always close-by, but because we didn't recognise Him. We have run away from Him. We consider God mysterious and almost unattainable, but the great mystery is that God is always with us and in search of us.

Let us thank God for such unconditional love. Let us thank God always for searching for us because we are important and precious in the eyes of God. We are precious because we are created in the image and likeness of God and given the grace of experiencing Him always. God is present in us, around us and everywhere in the world. Let us  ask the Lord to open our hearts, minds, eyes and ears to recognise His presence in us and in our midst.

With the grace and light of the Lord. Let us try to become aware of our goodness, talents, gifts, and enormous blessings received from God instead of remembering, dwelling and worrying over the little failures, shortcomings, pain and suffering we have experienced in the past or at present. Let us try to develop a positive attitude of thanking and praising God for what we have received from God.