Seeking and finding
No doubt there is a bit of the perpetual seeker in each of us. You know how it goes -- you just can't get the decor of the living room to have the right look; you're always pursuing another job promotion. Our search may extend to more basic things like health and well-being. And then there is truth itself -- some are always searching for truth.
Of course there must always be seeking before there is finding. But seeking just for its own sake -- an uninspired search -- can lead to a succession of unhappy experiences. It is seeking coupled with finding that results in purposeful living.
And it is this completeness of action that the Bible teaches. Christ Jesus' Gospel-recorded healings authoritatively demonstrate how to crown search with accomplishment in any challenging situation.
When lepers came to Jesus for cleansing, they were cleansed. When blind Bartimaeus called out to the Master, he received his sight. And when the Syrophoenician woman persistently sought freedom for her daughter, the girl was healed.
Jesus left clear guidance as to the fundamentals of being a "finder." When a young man approached him asking, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Jesus said, ". . . if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." n1 And later, when asked about "the great commandment in the law," Jesus said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. . . . And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." n2
n1 Matthew 19:16, 17.
n2 22:36, 37, 39.
Love for God. Love for others and oneself. These are the Biblical fundamentals for seeking and finding. Yet how easy it is to lose track of these basics when we don't find immediate answers to frustrating problems.
If our lives are oriented toward these fundamentals, and if we really desire answers to problems, we will find them -- with God's gracious love. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, believed firmly in the cherished Christian practice of praying to God with faith that He does answer our prayer. She writes, "I love this doctrine, for I know that prayer brings the seeker into closer proximity with divine Love, and thus he finds what he seeks, the power of God to heal and to save." n3
n3 Message to The Mother Church for 1901,m p. 19.
Sometimes endless seeking after something can become a game. It can be a quest never intended to produce an answer, though this may be difficult to admit in the midst of the search.
Sometimes, even though we don't realize it, our personal sense of ego is deeply involved in this questing process. If this be the case (and only some good, old-fashioned soul-searching will bring it to light), then God's love can enable us to find the only true Ego -- God Himself -- and man, His loved reflection. the deep self-respect we gain from loving God -- with all the stops pulled out -- overwhelms and destroys egotism and fear, and establishes eternal satisfaction in God.
Those who have really left a constructive mark on the world, who have helped themselves and others in substantial ways, have been finders as well as seekers. Their lives have overflowed with goodness in action. To the degree that each of us finds God and lives as His expression, he achieves the ultimate good. Seeking and finding are joined in one full circle, blessed by God. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet. Proverbs 4:25, 26
