Back in the day when I was a Methodist, we use to talk about "seekers" and from time to time have a "seeker's service". Seekers are people who supposedly don't believe but are curious about who Jesus is and what Christianity is all about. After converting to Lutheranism (really not a very big leap) I learned that the idea of people being "seekers" is born of human reasoning. It is how we interpret things we don't understand in order for it to make sense to us. The Bible teaches us differently - it is God who seeks the lost. It is God who draws us to Him, we cannot do it ourselves. Those so-called "seekers" are feeling the Holy Spirit already at work within them.
This is illustrated in the story of the Samaritan woman at the well found in John chapter 4. She is a sinner (like us) going about her daily business. And then Jesus approaches her and her life is changed forever. She wasn't expecting it. She wasn't looking for it. But it happened anyway.
The difference between "seeking" (we are looking for God) and "being sought" (God is looking for us) is an important one. It feeds into who we credit for our salvation - ourselves or God. If we are responsible for seeking Him out - then our works are necessary for our salvation. But the Bible teaches that it is God seeking us - drawing us to Him.
I never found God.
He was never lost.
I was.
8 comments:
Great! I was hoping you would weigh in on this one. :)
PS-I was just commenting to my husband that I've met passionate Catholics, passionate Baptists, fundamentalists, evangelicals, Lutherans, pentecostals and high-church Anglicans (plain 'ol episcopalians seems cynical in general), but never a passionate Methodist.
Did you meet any? I admit, my sample portion was pretty small.
Lovely.
"I never found God. He was never lost. I was." Bingo!
Kelly - Methodists tend toward ecumenicalism and do not put a lot of emphasis on what it means to be "Methodist" but more on what it means to be a Christian/believer. The Methodist churches that I attended focused on community service, social justice and mission programs and not much on teaching about faith or the Bible or church history.
I knew some I would call "staunch" Methodists. When I first saw Dana Carvey's Church Lady sketch on SNL I thought he had to be a Methodist (turns out he was Lutheran!):-) I bet you know that type, too!
Have you ever seen that movie with Leo Di Caprio called "Catch Me If You Can"? There's this one part where he is pretending to be a doctor and he meets a girl he likes and the girl brings him home to meet the parents. Turns out they are Lutheran and so he lies and says he's Lutheran too. He scams his way into becoming a lawyer and he's just about to marry the girl when the authorities show up to arrest him for fraud. He confesses the whole thing to his fiance, he's not a doctor, he's not a lawyer, he's a con-artist and he's on the run. Her response to him always cracks me up: "So you're not a Lutheran??"
Amen! I might have to use the part Unashamed quoted as a siggie on one my discussion boards. Or, better yet, use the quote on my blog! :D It's about time to change it anyway.
Unashamed - LOL! That is such a great line! I love "Catch Me if You Can," we own the DVD. Coincidentally we were talking about that movie at work on Friday. I'm going to have to find time to watch it again this week.
Thursday's Child - Wow! Thanks for putting the quote on your blog. I'm really very flattered! In all likelihood I may not be the first to put those words together, but I hope they work to help someone see Christ more clearly.
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