pursuit

Can you believe that one-tenth of our year has already passed? 2026 has most definitely gotten the jump on me. I’ve had this blog post percolating in my head since January 1^st, but this is the first time that I’ve had to sit down and actually write. It feels as though life has been on fast forward for the last month and a half. But, here I am and even if it is a little late – New Year, New Word.

If you have been following my blog for the last several years, you will understand what those 4 words mean. Each January, I spend some time in prayer and ask God to give me a word to frame the year ahead. And each time I’ve done this, I’ve been amazed by how that one word in January weaves itself through so many moments throughout the rest of the year. This year’s word is PURSUIT. And for the first time, it comes with a couple of “friends” – fervent and audacious.

The dictionary definition of pursuit is: “the action of following or pursuing someone or something” but what does that look like for me this year? In Mark 8:34, Jesus said “If anyone desires to come after Me (be my follower), let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (parentheses mine) Right here it becomes clear – if I call myself a Christian, then there can be only one object of my pursuit. It isn’t esteem, or money, or possessions, or any thing – my pursuit can only be after Someone. Jesus.

This year I have committed to live my life in full pursuit of Jesus. The Author and Finisher of my faith. The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. And when I say pursuit, I’m not just talking about a silent tiptoe, or a casual saunter after Him. I want to go head long, full force, in impassioned, fervent, audacious pursuit of Him! In order to do that, I needed to take a deeper look at Mark 8:34.

When Jesus issued the call to follow Him, He wasn’t talking about just being a good person. He wasn’t talking about just being kind or generous. He wasn’t talking about having a Sunday experience, throwing up the occasional prayer, or once in a while doing something a little out of our comfort zone. No. When Jesus said “Follow Me” He said to deny ourselves and pick up our cross. The cross wasn’t just a little uncomfortable. The cross meant death. It meant agony. It meant the end of something. It meant someone else was calling the shots. So, when Jesus said, take up your cross, He was letting us know that to follow Him – to actually be in pursuit of Him – it would mean giving up everything and letting Him direct our lives. I would mean the death of our old selves steeped in sin and the death all of our own plans, our own calling and direction for our lives, our own ambitions. The cross meant full surrender of our own will to follow His and being willing to let Him change us into His image, more and more each day.

I’ve always found it interesting that Jesus used the symbol of the cross to represent following Him. In the time that He spoke these words, they didn’t have the same significance that they do for us today. They hadn’t yet seen Jesus become sin in our place, conquer death, and rise victorious. At the time, the cross was for those condemned to death. It was a symbol of Rome – of their rule, their occupation, their oppression. No one willingly submitted to the cross – it was something shameful, a horrific execution that was forced on an individual – it wasn’t something they chose. What Jesus was saying was revolutionary – He was asking His followers to willingly choose “death” – and not just death to sin, but to willingly give up their own will, their own rights, their own way – in order to follow Him. To be under His authority. Without being forced or coerced. Jesus asked us to surrender, to follow His example and expect to be forever changed. There’s no coming back from crucifixion. You may choose to walk away from the cross, but once you’ve picked it up, you can’t walk away without full knowledge of what you are leaving behind.

Sheep follow their shepherd. To follow in Jesus’ footsteps is to say with Him “Not my will, but Yours be done.” It means that we forsake all else, to pursue Jesus. No matter the cost. No matter how hard the road. No matter how many questions we have along the way. It is taking that bold step into Trust and keeping close to Jesus, so that all times we hear His voice. Yes, it will be uncomfortable. Yes, it will cost us. Yes, the enemy will attack us and try to distract us in our pursuit. But, if we press on, as Jesus did, keeping our eyes on Him, the joy of our reward will be greater than anything we could ever dream up. And our faithfulness and obedience may mean the difference between life and death for people that we meet along the way. You and I may be the very vessel through which someone else has a life-altering encounter with the Almighty God!

I have just finished reading the book Jesus Revolution – the true story on which the movie by the same name was made a few years ago – and was both encouraged and challenged by it. I marvel at the encounters people had with Jesus, the miracles, the way God swept across a nation – and all through ordinary, every day people who simply said “yes” to Jesus and decided to go all-in in their pursuit of God. As I finished the last chapter, all I could think was “God do it again!”

I believe that we are on the precipice of an incredibly powerful move of God. Already you can hear the rumblings of something awakening. Our world is poised and ready – filled with people hungry, lost, and searching for meaning and more to life. Searching for answers, seeking to fill the emptiness that all their pursuits have not been able to satiate. But who will give them the answers they seek? Who will show them the way? It’s time for those of us who call ourselves Christ followers, as His Church, to rise up and get audacious in our pursuit of Christ, so that we can lead them home! It’s time to take bold steps, and leave timidity behind and show the Love of Jesus to the world around us. It’s time to bind-up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to bring hope to our hopeless communities.

When I think about all the great moves of God in the past, I get excited about what He’s about to do. But more than that, I want to be a part of it. I don’t want to simply be a bystander or an observer, I want to be in the middle of whatever God chooses to do. And that means, I am going to need to be in hot pursuit of Him.

So, what does that mean for me practically this year? What does it look like to be in fervent, audacious pursuit of Jesus?

• Pursuit means committing daily to being in the Word of God. To follow Jesus, I need to be listening for His voice. And in order to hear Him, I need to know what His voice sounds like. That is going to require more than just reading a couple of verses over breakfast. More than “whetting my appetite” with the occasional “morsel” of Scripture or a good sermon on Sundays. Fervent, audacious pursuit means digging in like a starving man’s at a feast. It means becoming so satisfied with the Bread of Life that there’s no room for anything else.
• Pursuit means being daily in prayer. Not just praying for myself, but also for my family, friends, church, community, city, nation, and the world. It means more than just “help me” prayers. It’s asking the Holy Spirit to let me see with His eyes and pray with His heart. And it means taking time to listen. To be still. To practice solitude and silence and make space for Him to speak.
• Pursuit means surrender – letting go and saying “yes”. Learning to serve wherever He puts me and however He leads. Last year was all about learning to TRUST – this year, is about walking boldly in that trust.
• Pursuit means taking that next step. Leaving what’s comfortable and “safe” behind to walk into whatever God has planned for me in 2026. Ready to follow hard after Jesus.

Pursuit. That is the word for 2026. And I would be lying if I said it didn’t terrify me. But I am reminded of this quote from Jim Elliot – a missionary who gave his life trying to reach the Waodani people in the rainforests of Ecuador with the Gospel.

“The man who will not act until he knows all, will not act at all.”

I have followed Jesus over enough mountains and through enough valleys to know that He is faithful, that He loves me, and that He always keeps His Word. So, while I don’t have a clue what is in store on the road ahead, I do know the Shepherd. And that is enough.

My prayer for you is that God stirs in your heart a pursuit after Him this year too.

Until next time, friends…