Chapter 7
And Go Seek
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and
the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who
seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of
you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for
a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in
heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” [Matthew 7:7-11 NIV]
It
is quite natural to think of other things, but be assured that the greatest
gift that our Heavenly Father has to offer at this time is a very close
and personal relationship with Himself. For it is written: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where
moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and
where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your
eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes
are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you
is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters.
Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the
one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about
your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the
body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do
not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying
can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I
tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of
these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here
today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O
you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?' or
'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after
all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow
will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” [Matthew 6:19-34 NIV]
No,
this is not to discount the immeasurable value of the gift of eternal spiritual
life [Ephesians 2:8-10],
but the point that keeps getting missed at best, and ignored at worst [1 Timothy 1:5-11],
is the very close and personal relationship that we were all created to have
with our Heavenly Father. For it is written: For
though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone
to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come
to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk
is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But
solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained
to discern good and evil. Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about
the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of
repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about
washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal
judgment. And this we will do, if
God permits. [Hebrews 5:12-6:3 NAS]
Yes,
it is true that what we can have in this world is just a foretaste of what it
will be like in our Heavenly Father’s Kingdom of Heaven [1 Corinthians 13:9-10],
but if it is indeed true that His Holy Spirit truly lives within the hearts and
minds of His children by faith, how can we not have so much more than what most
have been led to believe [2 Corinthians 1:21-22]?
For it is written: For the love of Christ
controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;
and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves,
but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh;
even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now, we know Him
thus no longer. Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature;
the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. [2 Corinthians 5:14-17 NAS]
Although
it is really nothing new [Ecclesiastes 1:9-11],
a lot has been made of seekers lately. In fact, many churches now
advertise that they are seeker friendly.
Oh
yes, it sounds oh so very exciting—especially to those who hope to see a great
revival sweep across this troubled land [2 Chronicles 7:14],
but the trouble with far too many seekers is that this is who they are.
For it is written: If any of you lacks wisdom, he
should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will
be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because
he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a
double-minded man, unstable in all he does. [James 1:5-8 NIV]
In
other words, seekers seek, and far too many of them do not have any expectation
of ever finding anything. For if they did, they would no longer be
seekers, and it is in this respect that they are actually nothing more than
doubters.
Alas,
that sounded so very harsh and unrighteous [James 2:12-13],
but it still needed to be said. For it is written: First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following
their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this 'coming' he
promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the
beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by
God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also
the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved
for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a
thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting
anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the
Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the
elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be
laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of
people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward
to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the
destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven
and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since
you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless,
blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience
means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom
that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in
them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to
understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other
Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you
already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the
error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both
now and forever! Amen. [2 Peter 3:3-18 NIV]
Yes,
it would be different if our Heavenly Father really is rather hard to find, but
He is not. For it is written: “I revealed myself
to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in
ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations.” [Isaiah 65:1-2 NIV]
Be
assured that 2 Peter 3:3-18 applies as much to the other side of the seeker
coin as it does to those who refuse to “find” our Heavenly Father. For
far too many in the Christian community are quite content with what they think
they already have [1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13].
Furthermore,
many “Christian” leaders have made a very good living out of encouraging the
members of their congregations to be quite content with what they now have.
For it is written: But realize this, that in the
last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self,
lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents,
ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without
self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers
of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although
they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these. For among them
are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with
sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. [2 Timothy 3:1-7 NAS]
No,
this is not to deny that when you have Christ Jesus, you have it all. MAY
IT NEVER BE! For as it was with the Apostle Paul, so is it also with
me—even now in this day and age of post-modern sophistication. For it is
written: My purpose is that they may be encouraged in
heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete
understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you
this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. [Colossians 2:2-4 NIV]
It
is just that far too many in the Christian community do not have any idea what
it really means to truly be in Christ. Do you [Hebrews 12:6]?
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