Seeking

Everyone of us goes through life seeking different things. As we grow up we seek friends who have interests in common with us. At this point in our lives, we as young people and young adults are looking for boyfriends or girlfriends with whom we can be compatible and possibly even marry. Additionally, many of us are going to college in order to obtain a degree and look for a job. Some of us skip college altogether and hunt for a job without a degree of any kind. This seeking holds true in other areas of our lives as well. When we are hungry or thirsty we seek food and drink. When we are sick we search for medical attention. The greatest, most important things we need to seek after, however, are spiritual. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus tells us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” In other words our chief goal in life should be to glorify God in whatever we do. This does not mean that we shouldn’t plan for the future. We certainly need to do that. God has given us talents and abilities to use and we should seek to use the gifts He has given us by planning our future to utilize them as best as we can. What this does mean, however, is that we seek according to God’s will for us in life, through prayer and the reading of His word. As we go about our life on this earth, we fall into sin and sometimes into very deep sin indeed. When this happens when we need to go before God in prayer and ask for forgiveness. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6,7). David spoke of the blessedness of the man “… whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered”. God forgives our sins through the blood of His son Jesus Christ. When we by His grace and Holy Spirit confess our sins He is “…faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). What is the result of our seeking these physical and spiritual gifts? “Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7,8). God blesses our seeking by causing us to find what we our looking for. We find these not by our own hard work or intelligence, but by His grace alone. There are many who seek and do not find and find the door shut when they knock. God has not given to these people the gift of faith, but to us he as given both the faith and ability diligently to seek and find Him.

Kevin Rau