Seeking versus Serving

Acts 17:25-27 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.

When Paul explains the philosophers in Athens about the unknown God who they had created with their own hands, he continues to explain that God does not need anything and we cannot serve Him with our hands. But God wants us to seek Him and find Him. We read a similar incident in Luke 10:38-42 about Martha and Mary. Martha was trying to serve Him whereas Mary was seeking the Lord. Martha had an idea in her mind just like the men in Athens that God is expecting us to pray in this fashion, worship in this fashion etc. They had their own conclusions about the great Lord and wanted to make statues in expensive metals. But God has a completely different plan and need.

That’s why Jesus ridiculed Martha saying you are anxious and worried about many things. We lose our concentration about God and attempt many things to impress people in church or elders in the church trying with our talents and emotions. At most times our prayers are like that. We get anxious when the government does something against the church and we try to fight our way back through the law that is controlled by the same government. But if our ambition is to seek God only, things are actually much easier. Mary’s actions were actually much easier than Martha’s. All we have to do is not to worry on how we would fare in Christendom.

There is a similar incident with Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:6,7. Cain’s rejection devastated him and became very angry. God clearly said that sin is crouching at the door because he was trying to please God with things that he decided himself. Again, Abel’s choices were easy as God was everything to him, he gave the best and the first because he knew how great the Lord was. God gave Cain a clear way out of sin that all he has to do is do good. But anxiousness brought fate on Cain.

In Hebrews 11:6, where faith is defined and explained, Paul explains that we should confidently believe that God rewards those who seek Him. The verse says that any person who comes to God should believe that we will get answers only if we seek Him. We read that between Enoch and Noah. That’s why Jesus says in Mathew 6:33 to seek God and His kingdom first. That is explained clearly in Mathew 13:44 -46 in the two parables. If a person seeks and finds God, he will immediately be willing to lose everything that he owns and the Lord says that that is the kingdom. It means that the kingdom is all about Him where we look at God and not consider anything or anything else greater.

1 Chronicles 28:9 is an important verse David explains Solomon before anointing him as king that if he wants to serve the Lord, ensure to do that whole heartedly and with a willing mind. Never ever do because you are forced to do so. God looks at every person’s heart and if he has to serve God, he has to seek God and his kingdom to be present first. David was honored a lot by the Lord in spite of his many sins. The reason is that he was the first to persuade people to seek God and until him, the law wanted us to obey. David did not just ask others, the ways he sought God are in many psalms like 27:4, 34:8,10. In Proverbs 28:5, Solomon places those who do not seek God against evil men. Any person who does not serve God without seeking Him becomes evil and does things without understanding Him. We see another warning in Hosea 10:12-13 on how to sow and reap expecting righteousness and seek the Lord to come and rain righteousness upon us. This portion in our life should never be lost.

In Mathew 6:24, we read how Jesus explains how we cannot serve two masters. That is not because we will run out of energy but because we will love one and hate the other. Serving a master needs a person to love him first. We cannot serve God because we are comfortable and without sin, but because we have a loving relationship with Him. Isaiah 55:6 wants us to seek God when he is near and available. This is because we are living when grace is flowing. This is a single and only opportunity for us to seek Him.

Amen.