63 - Seeking God’s Face

There are those who believe in God and those who love God. Everyone who loves Him, believes in Him, but not everyone who believes in Him, loves Him. This is because God is real. He’s a person with a distinct personality. You’ll often hear people say things like this: “I can’t believe in a God who would…” In other words, they don’t like the God they see in the Bible, and they refuse to follow a god they can’t modify until He comes up to their high standards. One distinguishing fact about people who talk like this is that they have never personally met God. It’s all theory and philosophy, because people who’ve actually met Him talk differently. They speak about Him as if He’s a person, and He’s there watching, somewhere in the room. And to be honest there’s a bit of fear left in them because He was much bigger than they originally thought. Actually, He was downright intimidating. It was obvious He had come down to their level to talk with them. In that moment, it never even crossed their mind to tell Him ways they felt He needed to change.

There are people who are looking for salvation and there are people who are looking for God. There are people who want to make sure they’ll go to heaven when they die, and people who long to be close to Him now. If you think about it, those are two wildly different motives. One is raw self-interest: “What do I have to do so God will let me into heaven?” The other is a hunger for relationship. Like a lover who feels lonely and empty apart from the one they love, this person never seems to get enough of God. They’re always pursuing Him, wanting more. They aren’t focused on His gifts or blessings, though those things seem to come along naturally for people like this, instead they’re focused on His presence. They want to sense that He’s close, they want to talk to Him. One person said it this way: “Some people seek God’s hand, others seek His face.” I would submit to you that Apollos was a man who was pursuing God, he was seeking His face.