Skip to main content

Ask, Seek, Knock...

           Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!  (Matthew 7:7-11)

We all tend to like to pull the first and second verses in this passage out of context. Everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks finds. To everyone who knocks the door is opened. So, here’s my prayer… “Father, will you please give me a Tardis with a replicator[1], so that I can fit a gourmet kitchen with a walk in pantry and freezer, a master bedroom with a sitting area and fire place, a full-sized bathroom with a sunken tub and separate shower, a nice cozy parlor and an office fit for a best-selling author and world-conquering master-criminal, a root cellar, exercise room, computerized observatory, butterfly habitat, community feeding garden, laundry room, craft room, and library (and whatever else I think of) in it, and be able to replicate for myself any piece of furniture, art, or whatever I might want?” It sounds like my version of “Santa Baby.” Don’t the first couple verses guarantee that I’ll get my wish list?

But Jesus doesn’t leave it at “Ask…seek…knock.” He goes on to point out that good parents don’t give their kids bad gifts when they ask for good. It seems to follow logically that if good parents won’t give the kids bad gifts then they ask for good, they also won’t give bad gifts when the kids ask for bad. Instead, they’ll give good gifts, or wait until the kids change their minds.

We tell ourselves we aren’t kids. We are adults. We have the right and maturity to make up our own minds and should be allowed to make our own mistakes. But those who have been parents know that you never stop being parents, and they’ve been through the stage that their kids are going through. The real; question is “Do we trust our heavenly Father enough to believe that this thing He’s given us is a good thing?”


[1] Can someone explain to me why we can’t have ten Mr. Spocks, or beam up a dead body and have it be alive? Sorry. I do like Star Trek, but…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more