In the beginning of the school year, a nickelodeon show called Victorious that I grew up watching was added to Netflix. I didn’t think much of it but my friend Joey was rewatching it and mentioned it at lunch a few times. I thought it was funny but one day I found myself feeling nostalgic and decided to rewatch it too. And it’s still super good. I only expected to be able to watch a few episodes before getting bored but I’m really enjoying it.
For those of you who haven’t seen the show, it’s about a group of high schoolers that go to a school for the arts and a lot of them are musically talented. And if you know me, you know that my music library is full of just about every genre there is, so naturally I picked up a few songs from the show. One song in particular is pretty catchy and it’s called 365 Days. It was written by Andre who had a huge crush on another character named Jade and it’s all about how he’ll do anything to prove his love to her and get closer to her. Crazy, cheesy high school love stuff right?
That’s what I thought too. But one day as I was singing it in the car, I realized that it reminded me a lot of the way that God pursues us. Andre sings, “I will try everything to make you come closer to me” and that’s exactly what God does. Just like Andre would “try 365 ways, 365 days” to get to Jade, God tries to reach us 365 ways, 365 ways. And it’s so beautiful the way the almighty Creator of the Universe pursues His creation. He doesn’t need to, God will be God regardless of what we do or don’t do. But He does, out of an incredible love and desire to have a relationship with us.
I know for me, it isn’t always easy to see the way that God is pursuing me, especially in the everyday craziness of life. In the song, Andre lays out his plan for pursuing Jade like singing it to her one day and bringing her a red rose the next day. The ways God pursues us might not always be that obvious but they’re always there. And the key to seeing them is to pursue Him right back. God tells us in Jeremiah 29:13 that “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.” James 4:8 says, “Draw close to God and He will draw close to you.” The Message translation of this verse says, “Say a quiet yes to God and He’ll be there in no time.” Now that doesn’t mean that you have to be pursuing God before He pursues you. God always pursues us, whether we are in close communion with Him or we’ve strayed so far off the path we can’t even see it anymore. It’s just easier to see God in your life when you’re looking for Him.
If you don’t know what God’s pursuit of you looks like, think back to a time in your life when something happened, big or small, that was exactly what you needed in that moment. Maybe it stirred something up in your soul, brought you peace or just made you feel perfectly content in that moment. That was God. This looks different for everybody though. If you’re like me and you really connect to nature and creation, it could be a gorgeous mountain view that takes your breath away or a butterfly flying by when you’re feeling low. If you’re a big music person it could be hearing that one song that reminds you everything will be okay even though everything seems like it’s going wrong. It could even be a stranger’s smile that brightened your day. God uses all of these things and so many more to serenade us.
In the bridge of the song, Andre sings , “Every second, every tik tik of the clock, I want you all to myself.” This is how God feels about us! He wants our hearts to be His and His alone. So I want to challenge you to pay attention and try to see all the ways God pursues you this week and then pursue Him right back!
God bless, Madison <3
I went ahead and attached the song it you want to give it a listen.
