Discovering God

When we speak of discovering God it is not because he is lost, but because we are. The Bible describes our condition in this way,

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one (Rom. 3:10-12).

Left to ourselves we pursue our pleasures, our desires, what makes us feel good. It was never our natural inclination to seek out God. In a sense, we were lost and didn’t even know it.

From the start, the glory of God should have been our goal, but it wasn’t. Each of us pursued our sin instead. So the Bible says, “. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

The good news is that although we were not seeking God he was seeking us. The Scriptures declare,

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16-17).

God saw that we were lost, and he didn’t wait for us to make the first move. He sought us out. If you have been waiting to move towards God, until you feel better about yourself or the things you’ve done this verse should help “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

God wasn’t waiting for our self-improvement, self-discovery or self-righteousness. He sent Jesus to pay the ultimate price while we were still lost. Because the wages of sin was death (Rom. 6:23), someone was going to have to pay. Jesus, who was without sin, died for our sin and the penalty was paid.

This is a gift and the Bible calls it grace (Eph. 2:8, 9). It can’t be earned; it can only be received. We do this through believing. Believing that we need a Savior; believing that he is that Savior; believing that when we ask, he saves us.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (Jer. 29:11-13).