Harvest Daily 08/04/04

Harvest Daily Devotional
by Pastor Greg Laurie

August 4
The Search for God

No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God.  (Romans 3:11)

Often we hear people say, "I'm on a spiritual journey.  I am trying to find the truth.  I am trying to find the light.  I am trying to find God.  I'm searching for God."  Yet the Bible says that no one is really searching for God.

You would think that with all the religious belief systems in the world, this could simply not be.  Yet God plainly declares in His Word, "If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me" (Jeremiah 29:13).  Let me be blunt: If you are seeking God, then you will find your way to Jesus Christ.  And if you don't find your way to Jesus Christ, then you are not seeking God.  You might be playing religious games.  You might be dabbling with various belief systems.  But the true seeker will find the true God, and those who claim to be true seekers yet reject Jesus Christ are not being honest with God or with themselves.  Religion is humanity's search for God.  But Christianity is God's search for humanity.

I have heard people say, "I found the Lord 10 years ago," as though God had been lost.  But God wasn't lost; we were.  God is seeking to save us, and if we really want to know Him, then we will find Him.  People do not come to Jesus Christ because they bristle at the thought of being sinful.  They are unwilling to accept God's assessment of them.  They are unwilling to acknowledge their guilt.  That just bothers them.  Instead, they want to believe they can get to heaven by their own merit, by their goodness, and by their own deeds.  But the Bible says that simply isn't so.

Copyright (c) 2004 by Harvest Ministries.  All rights reserved.  Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright (c) 1996.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.  All rights reserved.