To Seek part 4
Seeking, in the sense of trying to find something that we don't have, is a never-ending struggle. Especially when we're looking here, there, and everywhere. Because the Kingdom is not here, or there. It is within us. So as long as we're looking without, we're looking for love in all the wrong places. As long as we're trying to take care of ourselves, focused on what we're going to eat, and drink, and clothe ourselves with, then we're NOT focused on the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Which, again, is within us. The Kingdom IS righteousness, peace, and joy and it's found in the Holy Ghost. And the Holy Ghost is found within us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. What I'm trying to say is that we don't seek outside of ourselves to gain something we're lacking. We seek inside to find what we've already been given. That's such a radical mindset though, that I don't think we can do it until we fully and truly understand that JESUS came to seek and to save that which was lost. One of the first conscious decisions the Bible records man as making is to hide from the presence of God. Adam and Eve thought God was mad at them and they thought He was going to punish them. So they hid. They started out wanting to be like God (even though they were already like God but just didn't know it... couldn't see it...) and tried to close that perceived gap by themselves. Tried to seek out and earn what they wanted by eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But, since the serpent was lying to them, this was doomed to failure. That never-ending struggle where no matter how close to the carrot you get, the stick always moves a little bit further away. Jesus said it like this, "...One thing thou lackest..." (Mark 10:21). Under the Law of Moses--the Law of Sin and Death--we always come up short. There's always one thing we lack. And, under that Old Covenant, the one thing was the Holy Spirit. Fast forward to the cross. Fast forward to God pouring out His Spirit on all flesh. On God WITH us becoming God WITHIN us. On the Father GIVING us the Kingdom. Guys, that's His good pleasure. That's what makes a happy God so happy! He gets to spoil His Son(s)! He gets to see us stop struggling and start enjoying the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Jesus. The everlasting life that is the Father/Son relationship of unconditional love. And, really, that's what we've been seeking all along. That's the desire of man's heart. We want to be loved. That's the most important thing in the universe to a human being. And I believe it's only because we give up on that desire that we give ourselves wholly and completely to anything else. People who are married to their jobs, etc. They looked for love, couldn't find it, and gave up on it. Because they didn't go to the source. They didn't look within. They didn't know, or believe, or understand 1 John 4:19, "We love him, because he first loved us." Our love comes from the God who IS love. And we love Him BY loving each other. The Bible in Basic English says it like this, "We have the power of loving, because he first had love for us." We CAN love because we ARE loved. Because we are connected to the source of love. Because HE came to seek US. He found us, right where we were at, and loved us right where we were at. He didn't expect us to find anything. He brought it right to us. Now we can stop looking FOR something, and start looking AT something. We can see Jesus in the mirror and become what we behold!