”But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
The word “seek” appears in KJV some 233 times. It is translated from the Greek word ekzeteo which means “to search out, investigate, worshipfully crave, seek after carefully.”
This is the manner in which we come to the Lord – we seek Him out.
I’ve never met anyone who came to salvation accidentally, or someone who came to know the Lord that wasn’t seeking the truth when they found Him. If a person doesn’t want to find the truth, he won’t.
There are those of us who may have found Him by trying to disprove He is, but the only way to accomplish that is to first investigate Him, search Him out, seek Him, and see if He is there.
If one is diligent in his search and honest in his investigation, God promises that search will be rewarded by God.
There is no greater reward in return for effort expended that to find that which one is seeking, whether is a a lost set of car keys, a buried treasure — or the truth of God’s existence.
And that knowledge is the reward that is offered here.
A lot of time that I could be putting to better use is wasted trying to convince people by sharing the results of my own diligent investigation which convinced me that there is an eternal God to Whom we are all accountable for our sins.
I forget oftentimes that I am unable to be diligent on the behalf of the disinterested. I cannot seek God on behalf of someone else, no matter how hard I try.
I cannot make someone else seek God either, no matter how much I hover over them with my Bible.
There is an old saying that “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” If you tried to make him drink you’d drown him.
Either that, or that horse would never trust you around water again.
I’ve done that with my Bible. Someone will seem (to me) to show an interest in spiritual things, and I’ll immediately charge in with the Sword of the Lord.
And I will stay in there, thrusting and parrying, long after my opponent has asked to withdraw without yielding the field.
I led them to the Water of Life — whereupon I tried to drown them in it.
They’ll not get too close to the edge again with me around.
“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” (Matthew 7:6)
One of the most discouraging aspects of one-on-one evangelism is feeling that you’ve let God down by not seizing every opportunity to witness to someone.
I’ve personally never led anyone to Christ who wasn’t already looking for Him.
Not once have I ever emerged from one of those adversarial debates over Scripture and God feeling victorious in the sense my opponent suddenly fell to his knees and prayed for salvation.
That is not to say that it doesn’t happen — I’ve just never seen it. I’ve seen people come to salvation, but I’ve never witnessed anyone unwillingly dragged to the altar that experienced genuine regeneration.
To please God, one must believe that He is. But to discover that He is, one must first be seeking Him.
We can plant the seeds — but generally what we harvest was what was planted by others. There are a couple of ways to plant a seed.
One can plant it in fertile ground that has been prepared to receive it. Or one can throw it against the same fertile ground and hope it will germinate and take root.
In either case, whether or not it will grow is, in the final analysis, up to the Lord of the Harvest and not to the planter.
Farmers plant crops that fail all the time. And squirrels plant trees all the time. It’s obvious that a seed planted in fertile ground that has been prepared to receive it has a much better chance of germinating.
The point is that it is up to us to try to plant the seed in fertile ground prepared to receive it and in the right season. Planting in the wrong season just kills the seed and needlessly exhausts the sower.
(Toss some seed corn into the snow in your backyard and let me know what you harvest.)
The Great Commission commands us to go and make disciples of all nations, and the only way to accomplish that is to share the Good News.
But trying to beat the Good News into them doesn’t make disciples. It makes more determined adversaries.
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)
Jack Kinsella