What are You Searching After?

“Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live,

    but he who pursues evil will die.

Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord,

    but those of blameless ways are his delight.

Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished,

    but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

“Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor,

    but evil comes to him who searches for it.

Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind,

    and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,

    and whoever captures souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:19-21,27,29-30 ESV)

What do you want out of life? What are you searching after? What has your attention, your heart, your mind? What do you think is going to bring you fulfillment? Satisfaction? Purpose? What are your goals, your dreams? Do you even have goals? Or are you wandering aimlessly just filling up space and time with no real purpose or direction? Many people are doing just that. 

Are you a seeker of truth and righteousness? Or are you a seeker of what is of the flesh and the lusts of the flesh? Are you living to please God or your own flesh? What makes you happy? Serving the Lord with your life? Or doing what you want to do? For we are one or the other. Either we are serving the Lord with our lives, in practice, or we are serving the flesh.

And these are life or death choices. For whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live. And this is not just OT teaching. This is NT teaching. If we live to the flesh, to please the flesh, we will die in our sins. But if we live to God to please him and to obey him and to walk in his holiness and righteousness, in the power of God, then we have the promise and the hope of eternal life with God. But we must continue steadfast in that faith.

For as those who profess faith in Jesus Christ we are to be followers of Christ who make it our practice to obey him, to deny self, and to die daily to sin, in his power and strength. We are not to be those who pursue evil, for if we do, we will die. For those of crooked heart who are seeking the things and the pleasures of this world are an abomination to the Lord, and they will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what faith in him they profess.

For many are those who give lip service to the Lord but their hearts are far from him, for they are still those who are seeking after sinful pleasures and not to please the Lord with their lives. For they are workers of evil and not workers of good. Their hearts and minds are hardened to the Lord and to the truths of his word because they want to hold on to their sinful practices and to continue to feed the flesh. For they want their sin more than anything.

So, what are you searching for? Righteousness? Godliness? Purity of devotion to the Lord? Steadfastness of faith? Moral purity? Honesty? Faithfulness? Or is your heart bent towards evil? And you are searching for the sinful pleasures of the flesh? Is your sin more important to you than your relationship with the Lord? With your spouse? And so you are holding on to your sin while you let these other relationships go?

For whatever you search for and whatever you seek after, that you will find, for good or for evil. So if you search for evil, it will come to you. And it isn’t all that hard to find these days with computers and smartphones and easy access to a whole world of evil at our fingertips on the internet in the privacy of a corner of a room, even a crowded room. But if evil is what you want and not faithfulness and honesty and moral purity, that is what you will find.

But when you choose evil over good, and you choose the lusts of your flesh over faithfulness to God and to spouse, and then you lie to cover up your sins that you commit in secret, you do damage not only to your own life but to the lives of the people whose lives you touch with your wicked ways. You hurt those who you are supposed to love. But so many are so hardened by sin’s deceitfulness that they don’t care who they hurt, sadly enough.

But what is the end result of all your evil and wicked pursuits? You gain nothing but you lose everything. You lose out on the marriage that you could have had with your spouse, and you lose out on being a godly influence for your children, and you lose out on the ability to impact other people for faith in Jesus Christ, all because of your pride and your selfishness and your desire to have your sins regardless of who you hurt in the process.

But for those who trust in the Lord, and who are walking in his holiness and righteousness, in obedience to his commands, in the power of God, and who are sharing the truth of the gospel with others for their salvation from sin, and who are refuting the lies of the enemy so that others will not be trapped by sin’s deceitfulness, they are not only wise in the eyes of the Lord, but they are blessed for their walks of faith and for their service to the Lord.

So, please make the right choices because your life and your future and where you end up for eternity depends on you making godly and righteous choices and not selfish choices in favor of the lusts of your sinful flesh.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296