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“Seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33).
Scripture encourages us to be seekers, searching for truth (Prov 23:23; Jer 5:1; John 8:32; 14:6; 1 Tim 2:3-4), righteousness (Prov 12:28; 15:9; 21:21; Eph 6:14), wisdom and understanding (Prov 3:13; 4:5, 7), love (Prov 14:22; 21:21; Hosea 10:12; 1 Cor 13), and God (Deut 4:29; 1 Chron 16:10-11; Is 55:6; Jer 29:13; Lam 3:25; Matt 6:33; Heb 11:6). Throughout my life I’ve known Christians who long for those things, but most seem to get distracted in their search. We know what we should be looking for, but we end up chasing after other things without realizing we’re off track.
Decades ago, I bought an album by Amy Grant with the song “Fat Baby” among the tunes. The song is about believers who just go to church to be “fed.” They take in Christian teaching every week, but it never changes their hearts. They don’t grow into faithful, fruitful believers because they’re just hearing the message without putting it into practice.
A few years later I noticed a line in a White Heart song (“Power Tools”) that asked “Is he a man of God, or just a baby with a power tool?” That question helped me see that some preachers aren’t as devoted to serving God as they are to manipulating people. I also noticed that some of my friends were more into experiencing supernatural events than finding God. They were distracted by God’s power and missing the real gospel message, like Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:9-24) looking for Holy Spirit power as an end in itself instead of a means to godliness.
For 30 years now I’ve continued to observe things that distract Christians who may appear to be devout seekers. My list of misguided seeker types has grown to twelve.
Feed Me Christians. These are the believers of Amy Grant’s “Fat Baby” fame. They seek out good teaching. They may change churches looking for the tastiest teachings they can find. Then they just stagnate there, soaking it in, growing fat on the word of God without growing up. They often encourage other people to join their church to hear the real word of God. Maybe God’s word really is being preached, but it doesn’t deliver them from their weaknesses or motivate them to change the world. If the teaching is good, it may have a small impact on their lives and they may tithe and serve others occasionally, but they spend a disproportionate amount of their time and effort on getting taught compared to doing good. (Eph 2:10; James 1:22-25; 2:14-26)
Entertain Me Christians. We all like to be entertained. There’s nothing wrong with using talented musicians to lead worship or pastors infusing their preaching with humor, but if that’s the only reason you chose the church you attend, you’re missing the heart of the gospel message. God hasn’t called us to seek entertainment; it’s just one of the many enjoyable things he may bless us with as we answer his call.
Complainer Christians. The pastor’s boring. Their musicians aren’t very talented. These seats aren’t comfortable. The building and landscaping need to look better. The bathroom’s not clean. Someone should change that burnt-out light. We need a dynamic youth minister. Why don’t we evangelize more? The missions’ ministry is lame. We need to take a more public stand on political issues. Etc. Complainer Christians focus on finding fault with their church. They won’t answer God’s call to serve in the church, but they spend plenty of mental energy critiquing it. Instead of complaining about ministry we need to be active in ministering.
Steeple-chasers. Some Christians spend their lives seeking the perfect church but they can’t find it. Instead of looking for just the right church to meet our needs, we might please God if we looked for a church that needs what we can offer in service.
Program-hype Christians. Many believers today evaluate churches by the programs they offer. They look for a good music ministry, a fun children’s program, an exciting youth program, video productions, bible studies, etc. These are all good things, but they aren’t what God has called us to seek. Make sure church programming is a means to an end, not a priority in itself.
Material Christians. There’s nothing wrong with material success as long as it’s not your master. When worldly riches, comforts, and recreation become your primary pursuits you’re not seeking what your creator desires for you. Keep your eyes on the eternal prize and thank God for any material blessings that come your way with a willingness to share them generously. If you’re ever tempted to use your faith as a means to material gain, run! (1 Timothy 6:5)
Happy-hopper Christians. Everyone wants to be happy, but the search for happiness tends to make us jump from one temporary thrill to another, or worse, end up addicted to something that doesn’t satisfy. Don’t hop from place to place looking for a “make me feel good” faith. God offers peace, contentment, and even joy to those who seek him, not to those who greedily seek it for themselves. (Matt 10:38-39; 16:24-26) God didn’t call us to seek prosperity or happiness. He didn’t even promise to give these things to all who seek him. On the contrary, we’re called to turn our back on selfish gain and thank God for whatever comfort or happiness comes our way.
Doomsday Christians. Are you hyper-focused on end-times prophecy and all the terrible things that are going to happen? Studying Biblical prophecy can be part of a legitimate search for truth and understanding, but it needs to be balanced. Many Christians tend to get a little obsessed with this topic.
Spiritual Junk-food Christians. If your faith focuses on short, heart-warming devotions, clichés, memes, etc. you might be a spiritual junk-food junkie. Touching stories, inspirational songs, and other quick and easy experiences that move our emotions, or “lift our spirits” as we like to say in spiritual-speak, are nice. These things can encourage us in our daily walk with God. But we can grow to crave these short-lived, uplifting experiences so much that our spiritual diet suffers. People have a tendency to crave high-carb and salty foods in the same way. They taste so good we eat too much of it, but it doesn’t satisfy for long. In a short time, we’re craving more, and healthy foods become undesirable in comparison. Shallow, emotion boosting spiritual experiences do the same thing. The more we experience them the more we crave them and we shy away from deep, difficult experiences that really change our hearts and fulfill our souls. (Hebrews 5:12-14) Spiritual discipline is like a healthy diet. It may not taste as good at first, but in the long run it’s much more satisfying.
Comfort Christians. It’s in our nature to seek a comfortable life, and just like nearly everything else on this list, it’s okay to enjoy a little comfort in our spiritual life as long as we’re content with what the Lord provides. Problems arise when we make it a priority, putting truth, wisdom, purity, goodness, and all the other things we should be striving for aside for our comfort level. Comfort Christians tend to be loyal to familiar traditions over responding to the needs of the world around them and the call of God to action. Even Christians who see themselves as modern, embracing contemporary music and new trends in church activities can get stuck in their comfortable role as trendy believers and neglect unpopular callings such as standing against sin in the world. If following a faith style that’s comfortable to you limits your search for truth, you’re guilty on this one. If we’re honest with ourselves I think we all fail in this area to some degree.
Political Christians. When politics becomes a spiritual priority Christians seem to give up seeking, as if they’ve found ultimate truth in their political position and they’re focused on championing that cause instead of seeking greater understanding and wisdom. Political Christians consider enthusiasm for national pursuits an essential part of faith. They usually embrace a political position and nearly everything that leaders in that group are pushing. They view political opponents as morally degenerate. Christians who disagree with them are either patronized as misinformed or vilified as instruments of Satan. They mistake passion for their cause as faith. It’s great to have political opinions, but don’t be so sure your politics are blessed by God that they become the center of your life.
Finger-pointing Christians. You might also call these fault-finding Christians. They search for errors in other churches instead of striving for love and understanding. They are so confident that they’ve found the truth that they can list all their differences from other Christian groups and tell you exactly why they’re right and everyone else is wrong on each point. All of us tend to fall into this trap a little. If we’re seeking truth, we usually join forces with believers who have come to similar ideas with our own. This naturally makes us think those who see things differently are wrong. It’s important to realize that none of us are perfect. To avoid becoming Finger-pointing Christians we need to assume we are as far from the truth as the fellow believers we’re prone to criticize. We may need to make choices on many doctrinal issues for what we think is true, but when we assume that our doctrines are superior to another group we’re treading on dangerous ground.
Perhaps you recognize yourself among these seeker types. I sure do. A little bit of every one of these lives in me. If you read through this list thinking of other people and feeling smug that you hadn’t fallen for any of these traps, perhaps you need to read the list again and examine your heart more carefully.
What should our focus be as Christian seekers? Truth, wisdom, understanding, love, joy, peace, self-control, humility—whatever priority God is giving you. But keep in mind that our hearts are the front line in our spiritual battle. Other priorities will try to distract you, many disguised behind religious masks.
Go where God sends you. Seek. Learn. Grow. Serve. Above all, love.
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