SEEK the Kingdom

I hope everyone had pleasant Christ-centered Easter. We had a great time with my in-laws.

Two things happened over the weekend that prompted this post. The first was Wickle's post about how people should actually read their Bibles and not take everything they hear from a TV preacher as truth. Wickle pointed out that "Will there still be disagreements? Sure there will. We’ll be a lot closer to the real truth, though, if we’re looking in the right place for it." That is the whole point. You have to look for truth. That involves actual effort.

The second was an e-mail from the Barna Group describing the percentages of self-proclaimed Christians that do not agree that Satan or the Holy Spirit are real beings. According to Barna, only 26% of people claiming to be Christians can strongly disagree with this statement: Satan is not a living being but is a symbol of evil. I think this fallacy comes from two sources. First, people are not making an effort to read their Bibles. Second, many denominations are claiming more and more of the Bible is just nice stories and not fact (generally starting with Genesis). With this being the case, why should the parts about Satan be factual? Also only 25% of self-proclaimed Christians strongly disagreed with this statement: The Holy Spirit is a symbol of God's power or presence but not a living entity. How sad! How can they rely on Him and listen to His voice if they do not believe in Him? I think many people are relying on spiritual gurus for guidance instead of the Spirit. And honestly, I think many of these gurus are just fine with that.

So here is the point of this post: SEEK the Kingdom. Seek truth. Seek the Lord. Seek the Holy Spirit. Let me take a little break here to insert a definition. According to dictionary.com the definition of seek is : "to go in search or quest of"

People, this is not a passive thing. Who ever heard of a knight going on a quest by siting in his living room? No! Quests take effort and risk and perseverance and determination. So does finding the Kingdom and the Truth. The definition also implies that you can't really seek more than one thing at a time. So a quest requires focus. Even in a game of hide and seek with multiple players, you can only find one secret hiding spot at a time. That is why Jesus says seek first the kingdom. If you are busy searching for accolades from your boss or the latest fashion trend, you will not likely find much of the Kingdom or Truth. So get on your armor (see Ephesians), put your game face on, get out there, and start questing!