What Are You Seeking?

I have found that when someone I know gets a “new to them” car, I begin to notice that model everywhere. It is not that these cars were not already on the road, but there was no reason for me to notice them before. Once I became aware of that model, I start noticing them everywhere. If we are angry or jealous of someone, we rarely see their good qualities, only that which is negative. Not only that, but negatives become the identity of that person. I think that it is clear that we begin to see or notice more things when we begin searching for them. It is not just physical things that are affected by this mindset. I ran across the following quote. I have no question in my mind that when we begin searching for particular traits and qualities, we will tend to find them. “If you go to church looking to become offended, you’ll succeed. If you go to church looking for places where people fall short, you’ll find them. If you go to church looking for imperfections, you’ll see it. But if you go to church looking for an opportunity to worship alongside broken people (just like you), you’ll find it. If you go to church looking for a place to serve, you’ll find one. If you go to church to love people like Jesus, you can. Much of the time... you find what you’re looking for. Look for Jesus!” I probably shared this illustration before, but it is so appropriate right now. A member of the church goes to the pastor and tells him that they want to leave the church and transfer elsewhere. The pastor politely asks why they wants to leave. The response is that the church is filled with hypocrites. The pastor then asks this member if they would do him a favor. When they agreed, the pastor fills a glass with water...almost to the rim, He then asked this person to carry the cup all around the church without spilling it. When this member returned to the pastor, he asked if any of it was spilled. They proudly state that they didn’t even think they had spilled a drop. At this, the pastor asked how many hypocrites they saw while carrying the water. They hadn’t noticed anything since they were focused on the cup not spilling. Then it dawned on them that they had been focused on the wrong things. Hopefully you chose to focus on Jesus. Lord, take away the world’s power over us and fill us instead with a deep faith that always seeks Your will and leading. Amen