Heart Tracks - Seeking

      Recently, a brother on Facebook asked his friends to share with him what their idea of "seeking after God" was.  Many responded, but I wasn't one of them.  Not because I didn't think the question a good one, but because I wanted to really think, with His leading, about just what that meant.  The Holy Spirit brought two passages of scripture to my mind.  Both are found in the Gospel of John.
    The first takes place in chapter 1.  The day after John the Baptist had baptized Jesus, he was standing with two of his disciples, one of whom was Andrew.  He said to them, "Look, there's the Lamb of God."  The two disciples then began to follow after Jesus.  Jesus, fully aware of them, turned around and asked "What do you want?"  They answered, "Teacher, where are you staying?"  Jesus' answer was, "Come and see."  In His answer I believe is found a great part of what it means to truly seek after Him.  Seeking Him is, I believe, far more than praying and reading His Word, though that certainly is a part of it all.  It's more than imitating His works, loving people,  seeking to lead them to Him, and trying to be obedient to His teaching.  I believe that to truly seek Him means we spend our lives, seeking to "see" where He is, and doing so with deep passion.  Seeking to see where He is, be where He is, live where He is.  Jesus said that He and the Father were one, and that He calls those who are His to be one with them as well. 
    In John 14, as Jesus speaks of preparing a place for us, He was talking of something far greater and more than some "mansion" awaiting believers in heaven.  His purpose is found in His words, "So that where I am, you may be also."  This is always His greatest desire for us, that where He is, we will be too.  This is what we're to seek for, and it's not something that won't happen until eternity, because eternal life begins for those who are His right now.  He calls us to come after Him to seek Him and His life, the life He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit, right  now. 
   Seeking Him involves a lifetime of responding to His words, "Come and see."  An eternal lifetime that begins in the temporal, and stretches out unendingly through all eternity.  Throughout His Word we are exhorted to seek His face, His heart, His mind, and His life, passionately.  We may seek to be like Him, or seek things from Him, but too rarely do we really seek Him.  Too rarely do we want to see where He is, and be where He is.  We seek His blessing upon our lives here, but are very content to remain "here."  Being where He is in the eternal holds little interest for those who have become very comfortable and at home for that which is passing away. 
   In John 14, Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one can come to the Father except through Me."  John the Baptist was a great man, but he knew, as did the two disciples, that he was not, and could not be for anyone, the way of life.  Only Christ can.  In this age of no absolutes, many stumble at these words, just as Christ said they would, but He remains, as always, the absolute Way, Truth, and Life.  To those who doubt, and to those who seek, Jesus says to them and everyone; "Come and see."  Come and see where He is, be where He is, live where He is.  He calls.  Will you seek?  Do you dare?

Blessings,
Pastor O