No One Seeks After God

My husband and I were having a discussion on our walk today about a topic we haven't agreed on theologically. He has contended that the Bible teaches no one truly searches for God. I have said that I think people do, and used my life as an example. I don't believe it is correct to emotionalize our theology, but I do think God uses our personal lives as the framework whereby we come to faith. Ultimately, we cannot come to God outside of the Holy Spirit's drawing us. I get that. But until today what I'd been saying was my 'searching' for God, was actually just my searching for a cure to my misery. I knew something was missing and was looking in churches, but that still doesn't mean I was searching for God.

Romans 3:11 explains the state of depravity we are in when we are not Christians, as well as Ephesians 4:17-18. We have hard hearts, we do not seek to be told we are sinners. Yes, we want to feel better and yes we see something is wrong, but according to Scripture, we are so sinful we do not seek the One with the answers. The Holy Spirit draws us and in a way that no man can concretely explain (though many try to make it black or white) we go from not having faith and being unregenerate, to having faith and being reconciled to Christ. We'll all always differ on the exact order of events...I do not believe regeneration precedes faith or that faith precedes regeneration, but more that faith and regeneration are simultaneous. It doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things. What does matter is that we aren't walking about, outside of Christ, believing there is something good in us, because that does change the whole story of why Christ came for us.

If we were depraved, unable to be reconciled to God, Christ's sacrifice wouldn't have been needed.

I'm no theologian, I just wanted to explain something I'd never really realized. 

My previous thinking that I'd searched for God, when carried out, had some faulty ramifications. It's important to have the correct words to our testimony.

The reality is that I was hurting, sinful, and looking for relief in many places. At the end of my journey, I landed in various churches. I even heard the Truth and was then aware of my sin, and for 2 years after that, was miserable--knowing I was sinning, unable to stop, because the head knowledge I had, did nothing for my unrepentant state. It wasn't until I went back to college (it was a summer job when I attended a Pentecostal church where I first heard the gospel) and landed in a Bible believing church that not only preached truth, but discipled us, that I saw I wasn't just a sinner, but that I needed a Savior. I was lead to understand repentance and dying to self. It was then I submitted to God's authority in my life, admitted I needed Jesus' blood to wash me, and He then gave me the power to turn from my sin.

Within 6 months, from August 1996-January 1997, shortly after I'd turned 21, my life radically changed. After trying to stop cursing for years, it happened in a short time. After unsuccessfully trying to stop other habits for years, He set me free. He gave me a new place to live that was far more pleasing in His sight...my taste in music changed, the way I dressed changed, and it was all for the better. My pastor, during a conversation where I was sharing with him how I just didn't want to listen the music I was accustomed to listening to, told me I was becoming His disciple. It was incredible.

I wouldn't change what I lost for what I've gained. 

When we come to Christ we need to do so personally--sometimes very alone, and afterward, be willing to take the journey alone as long as He wills. The changes that happened to me, well, many were the desires of my heart for years...and looking back I think God honored those desires once my heart belonged to Him because they weren't selfish anymore, I wanted to please Him.

Friend, don't be afraid to leave the religion of your family, the comfort of your friends, or the lifestyle of those around you if it means casting off what will condemn you to Hell and putting on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is some good information in this long explanation of Romans 3:10-11.