Life simplified

I will turn 45 in a month. Since the age of 17, I have been looking for the fast and easy route to riches. With each passing year of it eluding me, I get fooled into continuing this course by the lie that it's too late to do it the slow and steady way. It is whispered into my ear that too much time has been lost and now my only hope is for one of these get-rich-quick schemes to pay off. What is most aggravating about this is the fact that I KEEP FALLING FOR IT!!!! I'm 45 yrs old!. I'm good with computers. I play a pretty good game of chess. I can figure out how to fix things and am usually exceeding expectations. I am a fairly bright individual! Yet, I keep getting fooled into wasting more time year after year by chasing unicorns to mythical treasures. Enough! Perhaps it is too late. Perhaps I have fallen for this myth too many times and I will never achieve my full potential but I will not waste one more minute chasing leprechauns.

Today I began a sure-fire course of action and if I die before I reach my destination I'm okay with being found dead on the road. I take solace in knowing that those who find my dead body will find it on the road to right place. They'll find my fist clinched around the promises of God not some mythical treasure map. Today I set out with a solitary target. Today I put all my eggs in one basket and trust one promise from the Word of God. This promise is found at Hebrews 11:6

Hebrews 11:6 promises me that God is rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. My responsibility is believing this promise. His part is to keep this promise. My part is to demonstrate my belief in this promise by diligently seeking Him. His part is to reward me as I demonstrate my belief. I may have wasted a decade or two but I know I am finally settled on taking the right course. I am fully persuaded that as I diligently seek Him, He WILL reward me.

I find great comfort in this passage. I find it very comforting that it says He IS a rewarder. The Bible doesn't He MAY reward, or He typically rewards, or is likely to reward or OCCASIONALLY rewards those who diligently seek Him. It promises that He IS a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. That means that if I diligently seek Him, He WILL reward me. This is a sure thing. This is exactly what WILL happen. If I diligently seek Him, He will reward me. There is no other possible outcome. Even if it takes the rest of my days to see this reward, I will die knowing that I will be rewarded.

I just lost some of you didn't I? Some of you just jumped off this bandwagon didn't you? "Wait just a minute Max, we like the idea of finding a sure-fire method of getting rewarded but waiting until the day we die sounds an awful lot like NOT getting rewarded." Now is a great time for a little perspective. Let's take a few steps back and look at life from eternity. Even if we spend the rest of our days in this clay pilgrimage in constant lack and bad health but escape all of that forever on our death bed, isn't that still a good reward? Wouldn't that be considered an excellent reward? If that is all you got for diligently seeking the Lord, wouldn't that be enough? Shouldn't that be enough? Of course it would. As a matter of fact, many of us came from churches that preached that. Many of us grew up in churches being taught that. Most of come from a background that professes the misconception that all of our reward is in the sweet by-and-by. Aren't we glad know better! Go ahead and scramble back up on the band wagon, I won't hold it against you.

Here's the really good news. We serve a God who once said: If you being evil know how to give good gifts, how much more shall your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him (Matt 7:11) We know from this passage that Our Father gives good things to those who ask Him. We also know from Mark 10:30 that we don't have to wait until we get to Heaven before we receive our reward. This is all really good news!

Let's review for a moment. The Lord promises us that if we diligently seek Him, he will reward us. He further assures us that He will gives us good things and if that weren't enough, he tells us that we will have these good things now, in this life! What more do I need? More importantly, what have I been waiting for? Why have I wasted anytime at all seeking anything else?

This is where life gets simple for me. I resolve today that I will diligently seek the Lord. The word "diligently" can be translated as "crave" "search out" "investigate" "demand". That is my occupation from now on. I don't care what else the world has to offer. I don't care if I miss out on something. I will be spending the rest of my days diligently seeking the Lord. If some other endeavor presents itself and I determine that it will distract me from diligently seeking Him, then I will have to decline that opportunity. It's just that simple. If it's not diligently seeking Him, then I don't have any business wasting time or effort on it. I can't tell you how much freedom comes with this kind of clarity and resolve.

I have much more to say on this topic and will be expanding my thoughts in the coming days. Tomorrow I plan to look further into the word "diligently". I think it's interesting that this is the commodity that the Lord demands. Until then, if anyone needs to find me, I'll be diligently seeking the Lord.