Matthew 7:7-12
Ask, Seek, and Find
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
G. K. Chesterton tells us that following God and Jesus is very difficult...God and Jesus are not Two Men or Two Spirits that make this world easy to live in...They want to make this world different...They want a world where we love God and every neighbor...Chesterton says, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting...It has been found difficult; and left untried.”...
C. S. Lewis tells us of the major changes that come into our lives when we completely follow God and His Son...Lewis says, “Imagine yourself as a living house...God comes in to rebuild that house...At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing...He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised...But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense...What on earth is He up to?...The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards...You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace...He intends to come and live in it Himself.”...
Jesus’ commands are simple and simply stated..."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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."...
Let us think about this...So we must ask, "Do we really want to knock on Their door and let Them in?...Do we really want to ask, seek, and find God?...As stated earlier by Chesterton, seeking is difficult and sometimes left untried...Lewis explains to us the great difficulty and change in our personal lives...So the difficulty is this, to follow God and Jesus, we must change and change drastically...Following God and Jesus leaves us no longer in charge and no longer in control of what we do each and everyday...We think less of ourselves and more and more of Them each and everyday...When we follow God and Jesus, we must do God’s Will instead of our will...Our life will be then be led by God...We like to lead our own lives...God and Jesus see the world different from us, so we must change our morals and we must change to follow Them and Their Way...We want God and Jesus on our terms, not Their terms...Their Ways are not Passive Ways...They are rebuilding us...To obey what Jesus taught is not simply done...When we completely follow God and Jesus, we are uncomfortable and inconvenienced in our lives, because we have to change and do God’s Will...We must be obedient to Him...And this palace He is building in us makes us think and pause...This change, drastic change in our lives makes us hesitate...
Always following God and always helping one's neighbor is something that makes us pause...It is difficult as Chesterton says...It is easier just to go about our lives...