Seeking

Zeph 2:3a "Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility."

What am I looking for in life? Comfort? Prosperity? A great job? A good family? Health? An easy retirement? I think if you were to ask that question to anyone, they may come up with one of these answers or maybe something else. These are not bad things, but they are way off the mark of what God wants us to look for.

What does God want me to look for? Him. The word for seek actually means desire. When you ask the question: "What are you looking for in life?" you are really asking: "What do you want in life? What do you desire?" God says: "Want Me. Desire Me." The Psalmist said: "Delight yourselves in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Kind of interesting: Desire God and He will give you desires. He will give you His desires. He will, as my pastor put it recently: "Download His desires into your life."

And part of seeking God is seeking His character: Righteousness and humility. God is definitely righteous. He is always just. He is always doing what is right…and He wants me to desire His righteousness as well. He wants me to have the want to, to do what is right.

But what about this humility thing? Is God humble? You bet. He desires to have a relationship with me. That is pretty humbling, yet this is His heart. He stoops down to have fellowship with me. He stoops down to listen to my prayers. He stoops down to answer me and give me direction and provide for me. And He did the ultimate humble thing, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Phil. 2) Why? So I could have this relationship with Him. This is really kind of crazy when you think about it. This is God. This is the Creator of the universe. This is the One who controls it all, rules over it all, and has unlimited power and authority. This God humbled Himself, came to this earth and died so that He could continue to humble Himself and have a relationship with me. No wonder He tells us to seek humility. It probably is the ultimate God-like characteristic. No wonder He hates pride. It is the antithesis of who He is.

This seeking thing is repeated by Jesus in the sermon on the mount: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…" Matt 6:33.

So what am I running after? What am I striving for? What do I want? What is my ultimate desire in this life? God? His righteousness? His humility? Or something else? I really need to check out my heart.