The Christian
life is a seeking of the face of God. It is not the seeking of some
theological set of doctrines. It is the seeking of His face, of knowing
Him, of recognizing His voice, of following Him confidently and in full
assurance of finding the abundant life He promises to provide for His
sheep.
Too often we seek other things. Those things are often good in and of themselves. But they are not the things God calls us to seek. He calls us to seek His face--seek an intimate relationship with the living God. He does not tell us to seek love, but if we rest in His presence we will find love. He does not tell us to seek security, but if we live in His presence we are secure--our every need supplied. He does not tell us to seek acceptance, but if we gaze into His face, we will find eyes that radiate His acceptance of us as His child just as we are. We are not called to seek beauty, but in His presence the beauty of Jesus radiates through Him and then through us.
The danger is that Satan sees those desires and tempts us with evil substitutes for Him: someone to love us, financial security, acceptance and popularity, beauty that we can see and create. The gods of the ancients were just wood and stone, but it was the ideas behind them that caused men to worship them and thus hope to find the thing they were seeking. In their groping in the dark, God hoped that they would find Him, find His face, and He used events and people to try to make that so, but few sought His presence. Too many--even His own children--sought other loves. Sought to love themselves and their ideals--their idols.
The choice has always been the same throughout the ages: "If God be God, follow Him." Seek His face. We know who we are: His children. We know that one day we will be like Him when we see Him as He is. Today, we must seek Him, yearn for His presence in our life, yearn to see His face in all we do. And the first step in seeking is ever the same, it's the essence of love, to obey Him. When we chaff under the call to obedience, we are seeking a false love. The devil is tempting us with his lies--through words or people--so that he might kill us and destroy our lives. God never tempts us with evil. When things or people are brought into our lives to lead us into disobedience, it is not God testing us. It is Satan using the desires of our hearts to cause us to betray God's love.
The critical choice awaits us every day, but some days the choice is more critical than others. Why? Because the choice we are being tempted to make has greater earthly consequences than some other choices. Though when we have reached a critical junction, it is invariably because we have been seeking some ideal--some idol--and not the face of God.
If we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him. We can spend our life basking in His presence or we can spend our life searching for the emptiness that our ideal offers us as a poor substitute for His face. If we seek the latter, John tells us that one day when we do see Him, when we stand in His presence and see His face, we will feel shame and not the joy that He intended. We will shrink away and not fall into His embrace. When we reach the end of our days, will our lament be, "I never found what I wanted; I never found what I deserved; I never found what I had a right to have"? Too many of us are walking down that road and blaming God for our deeply imbedded discontent.
If God be God, follow Him. Seek His face, rest fully in His love and in His plans for you, "and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."
Too often we seek other things. Those things are often good in and of themselves. But they are not the things God calls us to seek. He calls us to seek His face--seek an intimate relationship with the living God. He does not tell us to seek love, but if we rest in His presence we will find love. He does not tell us to seek security, but if we live in His presence we are secure--our every need supplied. He does not tell us to seek acceptance, but if we gaze into His face, we will find eyes that radiate His acceptance of us as His child just as we are. We are not called to seek beauty, but in His presence the beauty of Jesus radiates through Him and then through us.
The danger is that Satan sees those desires and tempts us with evil substitutes for Him: someone to love us, financial security, acceptance and popularity, beauty that we can see and create. The gods of the ancients were just wood and stone, but it was the ideas behind them that caused men to worship them and thus hope to find the thing they were seeking. In their groping in the dark, God hoped that they would find Him, find His face, and He used events and people to try to make that so, but few sought His presence. Too many--even His own children--sought other loves. Sought to love themselves and their ideals--their idols.
The choice has always been the same throughout the ages: "If God be God, follow Him." Seek His face. We know who we are: His children. We know that one day we will be like Him when we see Him as He is. Today, we must seek Him, yearn for His presence in our life, yearn to see His face in all we do. And the first step in seeking is ever the same, it's the essence of love, to obey Him. When we chaff under the call to obedience, we are seeking a false love. The devil is tempting us with his lies--through words or people--so that he might kill us and destroy our lives. God never tempts us with evil. When things or people are brought into our lives to lead us into disobedience, it is not God testing us. It is Satan using the desires of our hearts to cause us to betray God's love.
The critical choice awaits us every day, but some days the choice is more critical than others. Why? Because the choice we are being tempted to make has greater earthly consequences than some other choices. Though when we have reached a critical junction, it is invariably because we have been seeking some ideal--some idol--and not the face of God.
If we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him. We can spend our life basking in His presence or we can spend our life searching for the emptiness that our ideal offers us as a poor substitute for His face. If we seek the latter, John tells us that one day when we do see Him, when we stand in His presence and see His face, we will feel shame and not the joy that He intended. We will shrink away and not fall into His embrace. When we reach the end of our days, will our lament be, "I never found what I wanted; I never found what I deserved; I never found what I had a right to have"? Too many of us are walking down that road and blaming God for our deeply imbedded discontent.
If God be God, follow Him. Seek His face, rest fully in His love and in His plans for you, "and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."
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