Perhaps you have heard the story of the woman searching under a streetlight for a quarter she dropped. A stranger comes along and asks if all is okay. She explains she dropped a quarter and is looking for it. The stranger joins he woman in her search. After several minutes the stranger asks, “Where exactly did you drop the quarter?” The woman straightens up, points across the street and says, “Over there about half way up the block. But there is no light over there to search for it.”
Truth is everyone is searching for something. However, many people in our world know not what they are searching for. Many Christians do not know what they are searching for. Do you?
God has a plan for His church and a plan for you. Finding God’s plan requires a search. It is not difficult, but a search requires commitment and work. True satisfaction comes only in finding and accomplishing God’s unique purpose for your life.
Salvation is free. Our faithfulness to the Lord, however, requires a commitment.
Jer. 29: 11-13 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
12 You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Our commitment is to be faithful in seeking the Lord and His will. Do you know the plans God has for you? This is your search.
God has a plan for each one of us. The fact is though, God will not reveal His plan for us more than one step at a time. We cannot see around the next corner. Therefore, trust and faith in God are required. Too many people search for what they think would please God. This is not God’s plan.
For Christians our search is for Christ-likeness. Our search must be a committed search (with all our hearts). We must count the cost and be willing to forsake all. Luke 9:62 says, “And Jesus said unto him, ‘No man having put his hand to the plough (plow) and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’”
There is no time to look back. We are to keep our eyes focused on Christ and the task ahead. What happens when someone plowing a garden or farm field turns his head to see how the row looks behind him? He will always veer off course. You cannot look backward and plow a straight line.
We must keep our eyes focused on Christ and the work that God has at hand. This is the only way to move forward and join God in the work He is doing.
A committed, continuing, and consuming search for the Lord, the Bible says will allow you to find Him according to verse 13 of Jer. 29.
In your search for the Lord you can draw closer & closer to Him if you so desire. The question is, How is your want to?
George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.