“We love because He first loved us.” ~ 1 John 4:19

People were created for connection: Connection with God, and connection with other people. We connect with others by reaching. Making the effort to reach out is a sure way to connect with one another. The Bible is full of examples of the importance of reach. 

God is reaching for us:

God is reaching for us, always. The entire Bible is the story of how much God loves us, and what He is willing to do for that love. He reached for us in the beginning even when He knew we would turn away from Him and choose sin. He reached for us by making a way to restore us back to Him, and gave His only Son to die so that we may live in His presence for eternity. He reaches for us now, every day, through blessings, His Word, His Holy Spirit, and even through other people. There was never, is never, and never will be a time when God is not reaching for us, and pursuing us with His love. 

Reach for God:

Because God first reached for us, and because God first loved us, we are able to reach out back to Him and love Him. When Jesus went to the cross, died, overcame hell and death, and then resurrected He tore the veil between God and us. Jesus made a way for us to be able to reach out to and communicate with God for ourselves. But it is up to us to reach for Him. We cannot develop our relationship with God if we do not spend time with him. 

We can reach to God for many things- after all He is our Father! Whenever we need peace, rest, provision, healing, guidance, direction, wisdom, or help of any form we just simply need to reach to God! How can we reach to God? Through prayer, spending time in your Bible, worship, tithing and going to spend time in His presence at church. You don’t have to make it complicated. You can simply pray throughout your day, and thank Him in your heart. God is never far away, He is always with us, so talking to Him is one of the easiest things we can do. 

Reach others and bring them to God: 

Why is it that when we first accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we don’t just pop up into Heaven? What is the point of spending 80 + years around distractions, pain, sin, and grief? We are still here because we have a job to do. There are 7.7 billion people in this world, and the vast majority of them have never even heard the name of Jesus. There are billions of people in the world on their way to eternal separation from God and suffering, and they don’t even know it. It is our job to reach those people with the love of God, and help bring them to God. And God didn’t leave us to this on our own. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us as we go through life. God shows us how to love in His Word, and moves us to love through His Spirit. 

The next time you are afraid, alone, happy, or going through a big life moment remember that you don’t have to go through it alone! Reach to God, because He is reaching to you! And reach to other people to help show them that they can be connected too!