“For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” – Psalm 86:5
“Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.” – Acts 26:28-29
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” – I Timothy 1:15
There are days that I’m just not feeling it. I want to tell you that I roll out of bed every morning with a hymn in my heart, looking forward to my morning meeting with God. But although God and I do have a morning routine, His heart is almost always in it more than mine. Take this morning – my devotions and scripture readings are in front of me, prayer requests are on my heart, and moments later, I’m watching a cute video on Facebook about a little girl who won’t give her mom five minutes alone in the bathroom.
How does that happen? How does my pursuit of God fall flat so quickly? Social media is an easy scapegoat, but my spiritual ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) has even lured me away from my Bible to instead do loads of laundry – and I don’t even like laundry. It all boils down to this: I am forever dependent on God’s relentless pursuit of me.
In Acts 26, we see God in pursuit. After 2 years in prison, Paul is brought before Agrippa to plead his case as a preacher of the gospel. Let me give you some background on Agrippa. He is the 4th generation of the powerful Herodian dynasty. His maternal grandfather and paternal great-grandfather (yes, his family was that messed up) was Herod the Great (Matthew 2), the Herod who tried to use the wise men to find the Christ child and eventually murdered all the baby boys in Bethlehem.
It was Agrippa’s mother, Herodias, who received John the Baptist’s head on a platter from her then-husband and brother-in-law (I told you they were messed up) and Agrippa’s uncle, Herod Antipas (Mark 6:14-28). Agrippa’s Uncle Antipas was also the Herod who conducted one of the mock trials of Jesus before sending him back to Pilate for judgment (Luke 23:6-12).
And Agrippa’s father, Agrippa I, was the Herod in Acts 12, who killed the apostle James (the brother of John), persecuted the church, and died an ugly, wormy death for lifting himself up as a god.
Now Agrippa is king, under the auspices of Rome, and he has been asked by the Roman governor, Festus, to try Paul. Beside him sits his wife, Bernice, who also happens to be his sister (more of the same mess). Agrippa is a man born in sin and steeped in sin his whole life. He is the last generation of a family that has shaken its fist in the face of God for years. And yet, just like you and me, Agrippa is the object of the pursuit of God.
God sends Paul, the chief of sinners (I Timothy 1:15), to share his testimony with Agrippa, and Paul holds nothing back. After profiling his early life as a student of Jewish law, Paul explains how he shook his own fist in the face of God as a hunter and persecutor of Christians (Acts 8, 26:9-11). He then tells Agrippa of his conversion on the road to Damascus and the moment when God’s pursuit finally caught up with him (Acts 9, 26:13-18).
Agrippa’s response may well be one of the saddest quotes in the whole Bible, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” Paul replies with a final prayer on behalf of Agrippa, Bernice, and their court (Acts 26:28-29). He is voicing the heart of God, who is not willing that ANY should perish – not even a Herod (Daniel 9:9, Romans 5:6-8, II Peter 3:9).
Wherever you are today, know that you are the object of God’s pursuit. There are no coincidences in the Christians that He has put in your path, the pull at your heart, or even the fact that you are reading this devotional. And if you are pursuing the heart of someone else in prayer, never doubt that you are voicing the heart of God, and He is right beside you in the pursuit of that lost soul (Psalm 17:7-8, John 3:16-17, I John 3:1, Jude 1:23).
Today, I’m letting the laundry go. Like Paul, I was a high-ranking sinner that Jesus chased down a dark road. But now, I am blessed beyond measure, and I am gladly, gratefully, and gloriously giving in to the pursuit of God (Psalm 23:6).
YOUR PRESCRIPTION
Stop running. Give in to the God that gave all for you. And never stop pursuing others on His behalf. Pray for the lost, believing that no sinner is too sinful to be saved.
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