The Search

You know it’s funny, my whole life I’ve been searching.  At thirteen I accepted Christ, but I still was in search mode.  The world offered so much in the way of fulfillment and success that even if I knew God, I still looked for identity, fulfillment, success and achievement outside of my relationship with Him.

It’s taken me this long to figure out that all I really need to do is recognize that God loves me for who I am, and that all I need to do is love him back.  How simple is that.  And what a model for our relationships in the world…especially with our significant others like wives, kids and other family and friends.  Maybe we should even think about extending that, since Christ said we were to love our enemies too, after all!  Wow, that’s a hard one, isn’t it?  Love people who hate us?  How do we do that?  How do we?  I know I sure don’t do it on my own power…and guess what…I sure don’t enjoy doing it, either. It’s a huge struggle.  I think God probably understands that struggle…he probably feels that way about most of us sometimes!

I remember in one of my seminar classes at work we all did an exercise called “Stranded on the Moon.”  We had a list of things we had available to us in our wrecked spaceship, and the group was supposed to figure out how to survive on the moon using those things only.  The idea was that as a group we would come to a better plan than as individuals.  But, in spite of that, once in a while, one person would figure out the best way to survive all by themsleves.

Faith is like that…it’s a one-person plan.  The world or your friends aren't going to do it for you.  You figure it out by yourself and make that decision on your own.  The group doesn’t save you.  You stand alone before God based on your decision.

What’s your plan?  Are you still searching…?