A little bit of ranting never hurt nobody!

 
What does it mean to you to diligently seek God?

I was asked this question a few months ago by someone very dear to me (you know who you are) and this was the response I sent them back. They showed me this e-mail tonight and it's really appropriate, because it's reminding me that I need to do this A LOT BETTER!!! Thought I'd share it with y'all.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)


dil•i•gent (dl-jnt)
adj. Marked by persevering, painstaking effort.

Many people would look at the above and say, "Well, ministry is like that...it can be painstaking and you have to persevere...and you have to do that to survive."

STOP!

That's not what the verse...let's start at the beginning. "And without faith..." That's where it begins...that one word. The first way I need to start diligently seeking God is through faith in Him. One of my favorite stories in the Word is in Matthew 8 starting in verse 5...

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."
Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."
The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour. Matthew 8:5-13 (NIV)

I always start there when I think of faith:
--Being willing to acknowledge my need
--Being willing to humble myself and ask for help
--Acknowledging the power and authority of THE ONE who created me

Which leads into the "...it is impossible to please God..." I want to be like that centurion. He believed sight-unseen...intervention in a physical sense not needed..."just say the word." WOW! For this centurion, one of the very influential and powerful figures in Capernium, he had to humble himself outside of his title to take a chance that his servant would be healed. Awesome. And what was Jesus' response? "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith." Can you imagine Christ Himself saying that about the faith you or I have in Him!??!?! That's a pure definition of diligently seeking Him right there.

But I love the fact that the writer goes on..."because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists..." Or...what the NKJV version says..."for he who comes to God must believe that He is..."
"Must believe that He is..." I love that phrasing. That we believe, accept, understand, abandon ourselves to the fact that HE IS! Awesome piece of work this verse is!!

And finally..."and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV)

What was Christ doing His ministry on earth for? For the reward of it? No...obedience. Plain and simple. But God exalted Him because of His obedience...gave Him a name above EVERY name. To diligently seek Christ...we don't do it for the reward of it, we do it because of our love for Him and all that He's done for us that we in no way deserve...which is EVERYTHING. The reward is like the cheesecake after the meal. Paul understood that so clearly, as outlined in II Timothy 4...one of my favorite passages of scripture...here he is, he knows that he is mere hours from death. The sentence has already been given and that these words will be the last message he will ever send to his dear friend. Is he talking about how much he regrets this or that? Does he sound bitter or angry? Is he making excuses for projects that haven’t been finished? No! Instead he speaks some of the most amazing and powerful final words ever recorded:

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. II Timothy 4:1-8 (NKJV)

Until the very end, his passion was that the good news of Christ would be shared long after he was gone. He sounds so adamant and passionate about it..."PREACH THE WORD!! BE READY IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON. CONVINCE, REBUKE, EXHORT, WITH ALL LONGSUFFERING AND TEACHING." And in the end...he HAD fought the good fight...he HAD finished the race...he HAD kept the faith. And he knew that his obedience would be rewarded, even though all he ever sought was to simply please the Savior who blinded him into true enlightenment on a road heading towards Damascus years ago. Simply awesome.

So, what does being diligent in my life look like....heh...more like what would I like for it to look like?

That I would be living in the faith of the centurion
That I would become a bondservant to all in the name of my Savior by first becoming a bondservant to Him
That I would do the ministry that He has called me to do with all my heart
That I would live my life with no regrets by continuing to run the race set before me with the final goal not being earthly satisfaction, but only to see my Savior's face at the finish line.

And with that...peace out, yo!

posted by Stacie @ 2:18 AM