By Caroline Speas
“You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
“Glory in His holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.”
Psalm 105:3 (NIV)
“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.”
Matthew 6:33 (NLT)
Have you noticed there is a big difference between wanting something and wanting something? I had been going through the same routine every Sunday morning for several months now. When I would go to the shoe closet to retrieve my pair of black high heels, I would see the worn spot on the toe of the right shoe and see the worn places on each heel and think, “I’d really like to get a new pair of dress shoes.” Well, I couldn’t do anything about it in that moment. So I’d either choose to wear them or opt for boots instead. But whether I wore them to church that day or not, at some point, I would slip them back into the shoe organizer and not think much about wanting a new pair of shoes until the next week. Each Sunday, I found myself wanting a new pair of shoes. But when did I really start wanting a new pair of shoes? It was when I started searching for a pair, willing to part with the amount of money needed to purchase them. When I hit that “submit purchase” button, I decided I wanted a new pair of shoes more than new books, a nice sweater, or a whole bunch of boxes of chocolate covered cherries.
“Priorities are not marked by intention and feeling, but by action and commitment.” I heard that said by Mr. Jim Nelson (whom you may have heard in our prayer podcast a few months ago) in a Sunday evening sermon when I was a senior in college about 9 years ago. I wrote it down because it struck a chord with me. Oh, how many times I had found myself saying, “I want to learn what the Bible says about this subject,” but I didn’t start the Bible study! How many times I had found myself saying, “I’d really like to start praying fervently for this soul,” but I only prayed a couple of times and stopped!
If we really want something, it isn’t enough to have intentions and feelings. It takes action. It takes commitment.
When we really want more of God, we will search Him out, willing to part with anything that would keep us from Him. When we really want to be in church, we will make the sacrifices necessary to be there. When we really want to read His Word, we will say no to something else (sleeping in, or housework, or a hobby, etc.) in order to make time for reading His Word.
Do you want God? Seek Him. If you seek Him with all of your heart – wanting Him more than anything else – you will find Him. And you will see that finding God is well worth whatever sacrifice you will have to make.
If you are following our “Daily Bible-Reading Plan,” today's passages are John 4 & Psalm 16.