Be Diligent to Seek Him

Over these past few weeks, I have been learning an important lesson. Not a lesson I hadn’t heard about before, but one that I had somehow lost in the business of life.

It’s a lesson on denying my flesh in order to seek the Lord.  You see, recently, I have been super busy with work and school, and somehow my relationship with Jesus seemed to take the back-burner. And then the Lord opened my eyes to how I was gratifying the desires of my flesh instead of denying myself and spending time with Him.  I often found myself sleeping in—because my body needed it, I told myself.  While being well-rested is important, I had allowed my flesh to gratify its desires under the guise of “Oh, I need the sleep.” As a result, I wasn’t getting up early to seek the Lord, and I drew further and further away from Him.

And you know what I found?  In those few weeks, the more I drifted away from Him, the more I didn’t want to seek His counsel or spend time in His presence. The more it became a duty and not a pleasure. I found that the more I allowed my flesh to take a hold over my life, the more it did!

What have I learned from all this?  It is so important to stay close to the Lord, to stay sensitive to His Spirit so that we do not drift away from Him. It can happen so quickly if we let down our guard even for a moment.

We have to be intentional about seeking Him. It doesn’t just happen.  We must be diligent to seek His face if we desire His wisdom and guidance.  We must deny our flesh and take up our cross in order to offer ourselves as living sacrifices.

Hebrews 11:6 says God is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  We must be diligent to seek Him.

Jeremiah 29:12-14 says, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” Let us seek Him with all our heart, and we will find Him.

Be encouraged today, my friend, and may you learn from my example the importance of seeking Him with our whole heart.