One of the saddest observations to me is when I see a couple together, not engaging each other but their phones.
It breaks my heart when I hear of a 30 year marriage ending.
It's beyond disheartening when lifelong friends part ways.
Complacency in relationships kills companionship and continual growth. Maybe we get complacent because we take for granted that we will be allowed to be in each other's lives every day. We see each other so we don't have to seek each other. But does seeking involve seeing? Is someone's presence enough for us to be present with them?
If there is one thing in my faith that I struggle with it is the unrelenting desire of God wanting me to be constantly aware of his presence. That in every second, of every breath, in every circumstance, he is with me. When our faces are buried in our phone screens, he is seeking our awareness of him. When we are consumed by achievement and task lists and client demands, he is lovingly, patiently waiting for us to acknowledge that he is in the room. When we are gripped with anxiety, worry and heartbreak he is gently pursuing our hearts to lay our cares in his hands.
But we don't see him and out of sight leads to out of mind and eventually, out of heart.
"Now set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God." 1 Chronicles 22:19
John Piper says, "Seeking God is the conscious fixing or focusing of our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection on God. This setting of the mind is the opposite of mental coasting. It is a conscious choice to direct the heart toward God. It is a conscious effort on our part. But that effort to seek God is a gift from God."
God desires facetime. The Hebrew word for “face” in the Old Testament is often translated “presence.” When we seek the face of God, we are seeking His presence.
"Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always." 1 Chronicles 16:11 and Psalm 105:4 (yep, same verse....think it's important?)
Always? But that's hard. There are obstacles to continually seeking him. We need to get through and go around certain activities that can dull our spirituality and blind us to his ever present revelation. We can however, use what he gave us to consciously be aware.
Seek him through his creation in the world.
Seek him through his word.
Seek him through grace extended to others.
Seek him through prayer.
Seeking isn't a one way street with our Father, however. His beautiful, gentle, continual pursuit of us will never end. He seeks our hearts too. To me the most important truth in Christianity is that God loves us enough to seek us out even before we start trying to find him. He chose you before he created the world. The first mission trip ever recorded was when God sought after Adam and Eve after they fled from him. Perhaps the most beautiful bible verse in the entire bible is:
“The Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” Genesis 3:9
Jesus used the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin (Luke 15:3–10) to teach that God pursues us. Jesus wanted us to understand the heart of God and that He knows each person intimately. Jesus’ mission on earth was to “seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10).
To seek something is to pursue it. We pursue love, money, social media likes, our ideal weight and becoming the next viral sensation because they are "important" things to us. God pursues us because we are important to Him.
Love seeks. It pursues. It demands companionship, continually. Put your phones down. Seek out connection with those around you. Social media is so very anti-social. Be with your spouse, in your child's sight, on your friends' calendar. And call me. I would love some facetime...not the app, the Hebrew word for face.
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