Intensely Seeking

Recently I told a classroom of students that I had hid something in the room and the first person to find it could have it. As they started to get up, someone asked what it was. I told them I had hidden a piece of gum in the room. Almost everyone sat back down. Only one or two started looking. I asked everyone why they weren’t excited and looking around. They blew me off. After a couple of minutes of trying to get them to engage, I said, “Oh yeah! I also hid $20 in here. Whoever finds that gets to keep it.” Chairs went flying as they rushed to get up. They began looking under every chair, on decorations, behind pictures and in every place you could imagine. When someone found the gum, they knew it was real and searched harder until, they found the money.

In Luke 2, we find the only story from Jesus’ childhood. He was 12 years old and the family was visiting Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. After the feast, they started traveling back to Nazareth in a large group. After a long day of traveling, they started looking for Jesus and couldn’t find Him. They returned to Jerusalem to look for Him searching frantically everywhere they had been. They couldn’t find Him anywhere. They finally found Him in the Temple and Mary said, “Son, why have You treated us like this? Listen, Your father and I have been [greatly distressed and] anxiously looking for You” (AMP). Jesus calmly replied, “Why did you have to look for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” We don’t know how that conversation ended, but the message was intended for all of us too.

In Jeremiah 29:13 God says, “Then [with a deep longing] you will seek Me and require Me [as a vital necessity] and [you will] find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” God not on,y wants us to seek and search for Him, He wants to be found. He is looking for us to use the same intensity of a parent who has lost a child in a city or like a teenager looking for a $20 bill. Neither of them gave up until He was found. My message to you is the same to the teens. You will only seek God to the degree that you value Him. How hard are you seeking Him now? How hard are you fighting with your schedule to spend time with Him? You will find Him when you search for Him with all of your heart and treat your relationship with Him as such.

Photo by Vincent Guth on Unsplash