PURSUIT
Today's reading:  Leviticus 16-18

My comments are not related to my prescribed Scripture reading today, but about what I saw yesterday on my way to church...

Tooling through the country yesterday morning on the way to worship with the greatest church family ever placed together under one roof, I noticed a small disturbance off to my left.

I slowed the vehicle to almost a stop as I watched my devotion for this morning unfold.

Out of a small thicket of brush came a rather large hawk--and tailing very closely behind was a sparrow-ish type bird.

The immediate thought was comical, as the sparrow was probably one-tenth the size of the hawk.  What could he possibly do to the hawk?

My second thought was one of questioning.  What did the hawk have that the sparrow wanted?  Was the sparrow chasing off the hawk?  What was the sparrow defending?  How far would that little guy follow that big bully?

The sparrow stayed right on the hawk's tail.  The hawk dove, he soared, he twisted mid-air and he swooped so near the ground I thought he was landing--and still the little bird pursued with all he had. 

I watched the skirmish until I couldn't see them any longer, but was left with the desire to look up this verse...

"But you, Timothy, belong to God, so run from all these evil things, and follow what is right and good.  Pursue a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.  Fight the good fight for what we believe.  Hold tightly to the eternal life that God has given you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses."  1 Timothy 6:11-12 NLT

God's given us so much.  We have become heirs to great wealth and power.  All that is His is ours.  That being said, it requires some effort on our part to partake of His glorious gifts.

Do we pursue God with the fervency and energy that I watched in that little sparrow?  Is it worth going up against something big to obtain it?  How far will we go in order to make sure our stand is understood and our blessings are not robbed of us?

Is what we have of enough value to us that we stretch our wings, stand up to the bullies and soar to higher heights than we're used to?

A little sparrow and a hawk convicted me yesterday of the lengths I'm going to (or not going to) to receive all God's got for me.

What about you?  Do you have the determination of a little sparrow--or do the bullies take what's yours?