Have you ever played a game of hide and seek? Most of us have, and I can remember burying myself under piles of clothes and toys in a closet along with some other kids who went and hid also, while one of the other children searched throughout the house trying to find us. We were the “hiders”,and as hiders it was our goal to stay hidden, and the person trying to find us was the “seeker,” whose job was to try to find the hiders. Once the seeker found everyone who was hiding, the game was “completed” and we started a new one.
Sometimes people like to do word search puzzles, where they try to discover the hidden words in a bunch of letters, slowly picking through and searching for them until they have discovered all of the words on their list.
That is why people go seeking for something. They want to acquire something or receive a prize or reward. Well, God has offered up a reward. He offers salvation to those who seek to do His will, and follow His Son. But unlike an earthly reward which might only be available to just one person or a select group, God offers that reward to all who come seeking Jesus.
The definition for the word seek is “to search for or attempt to find someone or something; to attempt or desire to obtain or achieve something.”
In the book of Luke, we read about a man named Zacchaeus who sought to see Jesus, and overcame the obstacle that prevented him.
Luke 19:1-5 “And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.”
Because Zacchaeus was a shorter man, he couldn’t see over the top of all of the other people around Jesus, causing him to do something that only someone who was seeking would do in that situation. He climbed up a tree! He didn’t give up just because he couldn’t see over the crowd, and he didn’t turn around and go home. He continued to seek out Jesus, until he eventually found Him. Just like seeking Zacchaeus, we also need to seek out Jesus, searching for Him and overcoming anything in our way until we have found Him.
In a certain parable Jesus told about a woman who lost a coin in her house, and what she did next. What did she do? Did she just resign herself to her loss, and forget about it? No, she didn’t, but she instead swept the entire house, seeking for that one single coin, and eventually she found it.
We need to continue to seek the things of God, and let nothing stand in our way to receiving that reward. Like Paul wrote in Philippians,
“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)
When someone runs a marathon, they don’t run 25 miles and then give up with 1 mile left, they have already come that far! They want to receive that prize, and that causes them to press forward and seek to finish the race. When we read the Bible we don’t just merely read it as though it is another book, and go our way living the ways of the flesh, but we seek to obey and live our lives as Jesus commands us.
Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
God is a rewarder. Are you seeking Him?
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 