If someone is in “hot pursuit” of someone or something, it means they are eagerly trying to get to whatever it is they are chasing.
Or looking at it from the perspective of the one who is closely being followed, if someone is tracking them in “hot pursuit” it means that someone is trying VERY HARD to catch them!
What if we viewed our lives as being “pursued” by God?
In middle school it was not uncommon for my girlfriends and I to “pursue” a boy. I’m not sure we would ever use the words, “hot pursuit,” but it was something that would unnerve my parents. We (my friends and I) didn’t buy into the stereotype that the girl had to passively sit around waiting on the boy to decide to like her. My parents thought that was forward and TOTALLY unlady-like. If they found out I was “pursuing” a boy, they would take away my phone privileges and I’d be grounded for a short time.
That didn’t stop me.
You see, with my stellar luck, the guys that I wanted to pursue me never did. And the ones that DID pursue me were people I would end up “going with” just because I didn’t want to hurt their feelings. (“Going with” was the verbiage in the dark ages for dating in middle school).
Since things never really went the way we wanted them to, we became the pursuers.
There was this one guy that I had the most MASSIVE crush on. He was a football player . . . my “typing class partner” . . . and just a nice guy. I knew my chances were slim to none, but I decided I would pursue him.
For reasons I still don’t understand to this day, my pursuit of him worked.
He invited me to the Homecoming dance.
I looked forward to that more than ANYTHING!
It was surreal! I was going to the dance with the guy of my dreams!
(It’s a good thing I never watched the movie CARRIE or I would have had second thoughts).
The night of the dance came and it was time for the BIG moment! The slow dance (and back then – that equated with kissing)!
And after that big moment, I realized my pursuit had been for naught.
Was. The. Worst. Kiss. Ever.
It was such a letdown (now granted – probably for him as much as for me).
But the bottom line was – it was a totally disappointing pursuit.
There is a pursuit, however, that is not disappointing! It is one that brings us great joy. An amazing God – that is Love – is pursuing us. And if we will allow that to also BE what we pursue, it will change everything!
Many times we think of situations where something/someone being “in pursuit” of something as being bad. Law enforcement officers pursue criminals. But – there is much more than only the negative.
Check out these words from the Twenty-third Psalm:
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.”
Goodness and mercy today are pursuing you! The question is – “Will you allow yourself to be pursued?”