Seeking The Face Of God

SEEKING THE FACE OF GOD (Mark 10:27)

After having read the Scripture out of a sense of awe I am forced to ask myself: how did the people mentioned in the Bible get so close to God. I would love to get up one morning, drive to the nearest garden, sit on the bench and wait for God to arrive. Once He comes into the garden to have Him take me into His arms and tell and empower me to become holy. I often wonder how Enoch was able to walk so closely with God that he was taken to heaven and never tasted death. Truthfully, we must admit most of us are not like Enoch. We do not walk with God in His garden talking to Him on a daily basis. There are many times in our lives when we are distant from God and often go days, weeks, months and yes even years without hearing His voice. While it is true that sin separates us from a holy God, it is equally true that the blood of Christ can also restore our relationship with Him. The question is how do I seek the face of God and is it possible to see Him everywhere I go? Seeking the face of God and walking in His garden with Him requires that we take some specific steps: 1). We need to take time to be holy, 2). Accept the truth – Change is Painful but Necessary for Christian Maturity, 3. We cannot become holy without His guidance and power, and 4). We need a helping hand from other Christians to stay on the right path.

1) Take Time to be Holy

The things we are mostly likely to do are those things in which we feel are important enough to put effort into. If we believe seeking the eyes of Christ in all that we do is the most important thing that we can do in life, then we will adjust our activities in accordance with this belief. If we do not value God’s presence above everything else, then we will not be motivated to remove the sin in our lives and in turn we will only get glimpses of Him; not the walk in the garden that we so desperately need. My motivation is transparent:

1. Being Found Faithful when Jesus Returns - Matthew 24:42 - Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Wouldn’t it be nice to be found reading His word when He returns? Wouldn’t it be nice to be found praying on your knees? Wouldn’t it be nice to be helping the poor when Jesus comes in the clouds? YES, it certainly would. But if we spend most of our time living for this world then what is the most likely activity that we are going to be doing when He returns? Watching TV, going to sports events, telling dirty jokes, swearing, ignoring Him …

2. Found Faithful at the Judgment Seat - 2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Even if Christ does not return in our lifetime, we all must face Christ and give an account for every moment we lived our lives. Are you ready to give that account? Will there be more Hallelujahs come out of your mouth for the moments you were on the narrow path or move shame from living on the broad one?

Having passed from death (1 Corinthians 15:50) to life (2 Corinthians 5:17) we as Christians should overflow with joy to be given the opportunity to renew our minds on a daily basis (Romans 12:2). In practicality we are still way to worldly. Is Jesus more important to you than your family? Luke 14:26 states: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” This does not mean that Scripture teaches we literally hate our families but only that we love God more than our families. Is Jesus more important than money or being entertained by the world? If we want to see the eyes of Christ, then we have to realize we have spent enough time living the ways of this world (1 Peter 4:3)! Christ has offered us something way better than putting our hope in a dying world! To seek and see the eyes of Christ we must want to trade the temporary happiness that this world has to offer for living waters that give unspeakable joy! With a genuine desire to no longer merely let life happen, we must seek Jesus with all our heart and He promises that He will draw close to us as we draw near to Him.