The Puritan theologian John Owen (1616 –1683) wrote in a letter, “I pray God with all my heart that I may be weary of everything else but converse and communion with him” We need to join Owen in this prayer because we so easily find ourselves growing weary of seeking communion with God while rarely growing weary of seeking every other pleasure.

Owen expressed his intense desire for communion with God as a response to God’s desire for communion with him. And that’s the right way around. For the gospel is the good news that in Christ God has established union with us and now eagerly desires communion with us. He wants to enjoy close love relationship with us and gives both his Son and Spirit with that in mind.

We must be fully attentive to God’s strong desire for fellowship with us. Only then are we responsive drawing near to the Father in freedom and confidence. It is vital that we see this! We so easily switch attention to our own desires for communion with God or lack of desire. We may even believe that God will only desire fellowship with us if we truly desire fellowship with him. That is a big mistake! We keep all our attention on the Father’s constant desire to draw close to us through Jesus and his Spirit. And as we do so, desires for communion with God arise within us. So we must always see that our desire for communion with God is a response to God’s desire for communion with us.