Matthew 6:33-34
33 But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.
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I first wrote this on July 22, 2008, about two months after CRHP 11. Here's how it went.
As I type this morning, I see seeking God as a combination of several things: Scripture, prayer, the Sacraments, and participating in the Body of Christ. If I had to pick one of these that is the most important, I would say prayer, because that truly leads to all of the rest. Sometimes I forget this. Just two months ago I was banging my head against the wall on what "Life in the Spirit" means. I couldn’t figure it out. What happened? I finally PRAYED about it. I sought it out. I asked God to reveal it to me. I knocked on the door. And He answered. All faith comes from seeking. Developing/increasing your faith and marching toward spiritual maturity doesn’t require great intellect, or some special gift only available to few. For years I had thought that was the case, and I was continually frustrated that I couldn’t unlock the answers to spiritual questions. I thought it was because I wasn’t smart enough, or hadn’t studied enough. What I know now from sending out these daily messages is that I wasn’t taking the question to God. It all begins with seeking God -- ask, seek, knock. It’s all right there in front of us.
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Epilogue, 8/23/10 - I meditated on this verse this morning, and that made me want to go back and look at what I've said previously about it.
I still stand by everything above. However, the way I seek the Lord is different than it used to be.
All men (and women) are created in God's image. If we are created in God's image, then we are at some level a reflection of Him. So if you want to learn things about God, you can look at people. For example look at how parents treat their children, and how they love them. That's the way our Father loves us, except even more purely.
Psalm 139 tells us that God searches us and knows us intimately. In the Gospels, Christ tells us that God knows what we need better than we do. Lately I've come to be conscious of those things more and more. The result is that nowadays, seeking him out has become more about recognizing his presence everywhere and asking him to teach me what he wants me to know, and less about me asking Him for things that I want.
I still do ask for things, but I do it less and less. In the end I usually tell Him that He knows what I need, and that I trust he'll give it to me. Besides -- I've demonstrated to myself plenty of times that what I think I want is NOT what I need.
