Seeking the Face of God

This past Monday in my church's young adult "Awaken" Bible Study I was reminded about a subtle but very important truth. The study was over John 6, where Jesus famously feeds the 5,000 by multiplying a boy's paper bag lunch. An incredible miracle was accomplished and the crowd was blessed; But later in the passage we discover that the crowds were coming to Jesus for all the wrong reasons.

In John 6:26 Jesus responds to the crowds earnestness: "Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill." The people were not coming to Jesus because of who he was or what his message proclaimed. They were coming to him in the hopes that they would receive more bread! "Great miracle yesterday, Jesus, could you do it again today?"

In the following verse Jesus tells the crowd, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."

The people were missing the point. Instead of coming to the Bread of Life for true nourishment, all they wanted was more bread. "More blessings, please. Give us more excitement." It could be said that the people wanted the "things of Jesus" instead of Jesus Himself.

Now before we point the finger at the shallow nature of the Hebrew masses, we should each take a look in the mirror ourselves. How often we do the exact same thing? It is easy to come to Jesus with a laundry list of requests; we are needy people and we need God to show up in our life in drastic ways. Our prayers include healing, revival, spiritual renewal, cries for help, salvation for the lost, our nation, and general blessings. We want to see God work mightily in our lives, our communities, our world--as we should! Prayer is the very lifeline of the Christian and that cannot ever be overstated.

But in our desire to see God's blessings and His mighty works in our day, may we never miss Him in the process. One of my professors at Grace College once said, "Do not seek the hand of God, without first seeking his face." I am not sure if that was his original quote or not, but the point remains. When was the last time you came to God for no other reason then to: worship, commune, and abide?

In our fervent supplications and desires for his gifts (that He does give liberally), let us not forget that the greatest gift is Him--and what He gives in Himself.

Comments

  1. Josh HamrickDecember 9, 2015 at 7:48 PM

    Great question! "When was the last time you came to God for no other reason then to: worship, commune and abide?" Sadly.. I think I'm chasing an american dream version of the Christian life most of the time.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why the World Hates Jesus

Image
" The world cannot hate you, but it hates me  because I testify that its works are evil." John 7:7 Abrupt light after a deep darkness has a painfully blinding effect. When I was a kid, waking up in the morning was both a dreadful and difficult task (not much has changed since). My mom's solution then: turn the lights on. I definitely hated that, but it did get me up. Eventually.  And that is why the world hates Jesus. You see the world loves darkness. It loves its sin and lives for its sin. Our world has so fallen in love with its idols that we have redefined our terms. Sin is no longer wrong--it is who I am; the true me. We do not just excuse sin; we promote it. What was once evil, is now my freedom. Today it seems that sin has lost a lot of its former subtlety and can be seen flaunted about, rejoiced in, and held high.  We like our sin so much that if anyone threatens its existence there will be consequences. No one likes their idols being touched. When somethi...
Read more

Pope Francis, I am a Saint

Image
The Roman Catholic Church has long believed in a process called "canonization," where the notable and truly extraordinary Christians are posthumously venerated. Canonized saints may be prayed to for guidance and looked on as examples by those of us still struggling in this fallen world. The requirements for sainthood is, in short, for the deceased to have lived a general life of holiness, to have performed at least two verifiable miracles, and to posthumously receive a papal decree which adds the subject to "the list" at least 5 years after death.  And last week Pope Francis "approved sainthood" for Mother Teresa, which will be finalized by September 4 of this year.  There is no question Mother Teresa of Calcutta lived a truly exemplary life. The former Nobel Prize winner’s incredible deeds of both service and sacrifice for the "least of these" has been well documented; and as her work to this day is continued in over a hundred countrie...
Read more

The Plural Me

This marriage thing is going to be hard. My whole life I have lived thinking about me--making decisions based on me. I do ministries because I am gifted to do them. I like to keep a quieter profile because I do not like to tell everyone about me all the time. I engage in activities that I enjoy for no other reason than because I enjoy doing them. This has been how Daniel Harris has lived for the last 23 years. The singular self-- and it has been a pretty good ride. But that is all changing soon, and it is hard. I am getting married to a girl that I love very much, and she is a little different than me (which is a good thing). She has a lot of hair. She laughs a lot and laughs loudly. She likes to tell stories about her day. She loves people, adores children, and dislikes animals. She likes to dance and she likes to have fun—and I think she enjoys embarrassing me in the process. She likes to be active. She likes to be in the game. Did I mention that she is also really p...
Read more