WHAT DOES GOD WANT FROM ME?
By Zach Chronley
This global pandemic has many people questioning God during quarantine. The questions they ask differ depending on who it is that’s asking. An atheist might ask “how a god would allow a virus to exist.” Even committed followers of Jesus have questions they want God to answer. Some are questions of struggle, others are questions of productivity. Various questions arise and range from, “how long until all this is over?” to “how can I share the gospel with my neighbors during quarantine?” In many ways there is a question deep down that is asking, “what does God want from me right now?”
The answer is simple: He doesn’t want anything from you. God just wants you.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus spoke to the Ephesian church through John to tell them that while they had good works and were persevering, they had ultimately lost their love of God. Because of this, their entire church was in danger. Jesus gives them this call to action: “repent and do the things you did at first” (Revelation 2:5). If you find yourself struggling to feel like you did when you first loved God listen to Jesus and do what you did in the beginning. Did you read His Word day and night? Did you spend hours in the prayer closet? Did you listen to worship music on repeat? We know what God wants, so the real question now is, do you want it too? Even now Jesus has prepared the table for you to meet.
Everything God has ever done from the beginning of history until now was all for this single purpose. Being in quarantine doesn’t change this. God has gone to great lengths to rescue you in order to be in a right relationship with you. Often times we have trouble believing it, but it’s true. It’s impossible to fully grasp the power of this truth by itself. To better understand this deep profound reality it’s important for us to see how we fit into God’s great story, the story of the Bible.
From the very beginning pages of the Bible we see God creating people to be in relationship with Him. Why does He do this? It’s important to remember that God has no need of anything. His word tells us: “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.” (Psalm 50:12). God is completely self-sufficient. And yet he did create us for a reason, and that reason is He desires us. He wants to be in a relationship with us. “all things were created through him and for him.” (Colossians 1:16) We were made for this, but even in the most ideal situation with barest minimum of ways to fail this relationship we still failed. And what follows throughout the entirety of Scripture is God chasing after His people culminating in the atoning death of Jesus to cover us.
Think about that for a moment. God created the entire universe, all things in heaven and on earth for the purpose of being with you and me, and then in the garden when we disqualified ourselves from that relationship, He sent His son to die to restore our ability to be with Him. He loves you that much. Nothing, not even Covid-19 could change that. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
God has not changed. His desire has not changed. His purpose has not changed, and neither has yours. Your purpose is to be transformed in the image of Christ. Most Christians know this, but they still wrestle with what to do with this information. We all struggle to comprehend what God wants from us even if we believe that we don’t need to earn His love. In this season, we need to lean into this truth. Our relationship with God is meant to be active and not passive. God wants to meet with you today, even if for the first time. Recognize the truth in these words Jesus said before his crucifixion: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
Don’t allow these present circumstances, however severe, to make you lose sight of God’s love for you. Abide in that love. Do what you did at first.