Seek and Find
Let me begin this devotional with a very simple statement: What you seek, you will find. Jesus taught of the importance of seeking first the most important, and that is the Kingdom of God. Jesus knew the tendency of man was to be complacent and fatalistic. He knew that many of us just let life go by and would then credit luck for the good things that happen and blame God for the bad things. To seek, means you must get up off the couch and do something. Seeking requires desire and takes initiative. It places the responsibility on the person to look for what he desires to find. The intensity of the search is determined by the worth it is to the person.
Jesus’ mission statement was: To seek and save those who were lost. (Luke 19.10)
Just imagine all that was involved in leaving Heaven to come to earth. The intensity of God’s love for fallen mankind, drove Jesus to leave all, to suffer unjustly and to die a sinner’s death, just to restore us back to Him. This is so graphically illustrated in Mark, chapters 4 and 5. Jesus had spent the day teaching and ministering to multitudes of people. At the end of the day, He decided to go by boat to the other side of the lake. As they crossed the lake, a storm arose and they were in danger of drowning; yet Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat. The disciples woke up Jesus and He calmed the storm. As they arrived at the other side of the lake, a demonized man approached them. If there was ever a “lost” soul, it was this man. He had an army of demons in him. Jesus ordered the demons out of the man and he was restored to his right mind. The demons went into a herd of pigs and they rushed into the lake and drowned. The villagers were fearful of Jesus and asked Him to leave. So, He got back into the boat and went back to the other side of the lake, where He ministered once again to the multitudes. All that for just one man.
I have heard it said many times, and I believe it is true, that if you were the only person on earth, Jesus would still die to save you. He loves each one of us just as much as He loves the whole world. He took the initiative. He sought us before we could seek Him. He loved us before we could love Him. His love makes us important. His love reveals our worth and value. Because He Loves, we love. As the Lord is moved with compassion, so we can be. His mission becomes our mission. There is a reward in seeking the Lord, and that is that we will find Him. The Lord does not play a cat and mouse, hard to get kind of game with us. If we seek Him we will find Him.
Have you ever bought a car and then after driving it you see so many other cars, just like yours, on the road? Because you are used to seeing your car, you become aware of your kind of car, more than you ever were before. The same goes for how we see other people. If we look for the negative, we will see bad things everywhere. If we look for the good, we will also find good everywhere. Jesus went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed by the devil. (Acts. 10.38) He looked for opportunities to help and He found them. He is the good shepherd that leaves the ninety and nine and seeks the one who went astray. He is like the woman who diligently cleans her home to find the coin she had lost. He is not complacent. He is looking for faith here on the earth. Jesus is seeking, among all the nations, those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. What He seeks, He will find and what you seek, you will find.
Scriptures to meditate on:
Mat. 6.33; 7.7; Luke 15.1-32; 19.10; Heb. 11.6; Acts 10.38