Romans 2:1-11; Seeking

The concept of wrath flows over into this section. Yet again, Paul does not paint God as being an angry divinity waiting to jump on us all. Rather, wrath comes only upon those who have rejected God and decided to be self-seeking.

I seems from the passage that Bob Dylan was right in his old song. "You're gonna have to serve somebody. Well it may be the devil or it may be the Lord but your gonna have to serve somebody." The scripture does not come out and say we would actually serve the devil; however, it does parallel serving self with seeking evil.

So when it is all said and done, everybody is a seeker, either of self (which results in evil) or of God. There are only two options at the end of the day. No doubt everyone wants the end of glory, honor and immortality. Yet the question is am I willing to seek God rather than self in order to get there?

Luke 19:1-9; Seeking

All of chapter 18 was about people seeking Jesus. The children came, the rich young man came and the blind man came. This scene is no different. Zacchaeus was seeking to see this itinerant preacher as he passed through. Jesus apparently had no plans of stopping as the context says he was passing through the town. But his plans changed.

As the procession marched deliberately towards Jerusalem, Jesus stopped and let Zachaeus know that God has seen his heart. Jesus spends time with Zacchaeus. Then Jesus in defense of Zacchaeus and his own actions, proclaims "The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost."

Suddenly the paradox hits home. The children, the rich man, the blind man and Zacchaeus have all been seeking him. Now he proclaims that he, the Son of Man, has been the one doing the seeking all along.

God is seeking seekers.

Seek or Sit; Luke 7:18-33

The author's comments are insightful. If Luke stepped outside the story to inject a comment, it must have been something meaningful to him that he did not want us to miss. In verses 29-30 he separates the crowd into two groups, i.e., those baptized by John who subsequently accepted Jesus and those not baptized by John who subsequently rejected Jesus.

To be baptized by John meant to go looking for something. He lived in the desert, taught somewhat harshly and called people to change their lives. You didn't bump into John at the supermarket or run into him on the way to the synagogue. Being baptized by John meant a sacrifice of time and effort.

Luke's insight is followed by Jesus' rebuke where he compares the people to children sitting around the marketplace complaining. They invested no time nor effort.

So the passage is about John but also about me. How much time and effort am I putting into seeking God? Does God view me as one willing to walk through a desert to find him or as one who sits and complains about life? Am I a seeker or a sitter?