Chasing Wisdom by Daniel GrotheSample

From the very first page of Scripture, we are introduced to a God who is active. A quick glance at the superabundance of verbs in Genesis 1 says it all: God created the heavens and the earth (v. 1). God separated the light from the dark (v. 4). God made the vault above the earth (v. 7). God made the two great lights—the sun and the moon—and set them into place (vv. 16–17). God created the sea creatures and the winged birds, and blessed them (vv. 20–22). God made the wild animals (v. 25). And, in a sort of trinitarian anticipation of the God whom Jesus would reveal to us, Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created. . . . God created. . . . God created humankind in his own image. Then, to top it all off, God blessed them (v. 28). . . .

The text tells us that God moves. God is not some static deity, some sheer force of power that exists “somewhere out there” in the great unknown. God, we’re told, goes on evening walks. And with what we know of our triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—we can say with great theological precision that he is intrinsically active. . . .

If we need any more evidence of this truth, we’re told that when Jesus first bursts onto the scene in the Gospels, we find him walking the shores of Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist (Matt. 3:13). . . . The four gospel writers tell stories of him walking from village to village, going only where his feet could carry him. We hear about him climbing up into the hills to pray. (Where I’m from in Colorado, people call that hiking.) We’re told that he grew up in Joseph’s house, the house of a carpenter, which means he would have surely worked with his hands, building homes for families to live in and crafting tables for families to break bread around. Physical work. . . .

Jesus, being God, shows us what God is like. In him we see that God is the God who lives on the go. The call Jesus put out to the disciples was clear: “Come, follow me!” (Matt. 4:19, emphasis mine). This is not passive language. This is not a call to a life of lethargy. And the call still rings out today: “Follow me.”