Watching The Chosen (see here and here) has reignited my desire to study the gospels with a historian's eye. I started with the Book of Matthew, not just because it's the first book of the New Testament but also because... well... I like the character in the series. He makes a really good point in the first episode of season two: he's documenting things, as even a former tax collector would.
So, I've been reading Matthew for the first time in awhile, and so far I've wound up in the seventh chapter. Here are verses 7 and 8:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
It hit me some time ago just how much that these words are a solemn promise from God. And it's one that, thankfully, isn't subject to my own personal biases. The way of the world is that a person MUST find something, according to our predilections. It has to fit our comprehension, "our way" of doing things.
Isn't that what the Pharisees ended up with? The seeking after God became a thing to be demanded, so that it fit within the paradigm of the teachers of the law. And the result of it was simply more law. Jesus answered that with something radical: that ALL who have a seeking heart, regardless of their understanding, will find Him.
I think the key word in this passage is "seek". And it's a never-ending, life-long pursuit of God. For those in Christ, He has been found. Yet we still seek after Him, as we become more and more Christ-like. For those who are not in Christ but seeking Him... and maybe in ways that Christians do not realize... it is a promise that they WILL find Him. That their searching out will not be in vain. And though they may not fit within the mold of this denomination or that one, their finding Christ is still a thing to be respected, acknowledged, and honored.
Ask. Seek. Find.
It works. Despite all human weakness, the thing works.
And that is my blog post for today.
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