Some folks spend their whole lives looking for God. They run from church to church, from Bible translation to Bible translation, from radio station to radio station, from pastor to pastor and expert to expert and prophet to false prophet, always looking for that next piece of information that will lead them where they're hoping to go - to God.
Even though they have their hearts set on one thing, they spend their lives running aimlessly through the world because as soon as you change your source of information, you change what the God looks like that you think you're seeking.
That's how they end up never quite finding Him.
The even sadder truth is that...God doesn't need to be found at all.
He's not hiding.
In Luke 17, when Jesus is teaching His disciples, He tells them that a time is coming when others will try to declare that God is here or there or somewhere else. He's out in the fields. He's over in the next town. He's coming to that one place.
"But don't go running after them," Jesus said.
Don't go running after them because you already have everything in your heart that you need to seek after God. Don't go running after them because God is never 'over there;' He is always right here. Don't go running after them because they will lead you on a wild chase that will never end. Like looking for the end of the rainbow, the closer you think you're getting, the easier it is to lose sight of the whole thing.
Don't go running after them because they don't know the God who lives in your heart already, and the things they are chasing after will change the shape of what you're looking for. You will start to think God has to be this thing or that thing and forget all of the things He already is for you.
Don't go running after them because if you do, you can only ever end up with the God they are seeking and not the one that satisfies your heart. You will be looking for things that don't make sense to you, that don't dwell in your heart the way that your urge to seek Him already does.
Seeking after the Lord is a holy endeavor, and it comes straight from the heart. There is no map for it, no one place to find Him. No X marks the spot.
There is only a Cross. On a hill. And an empty tomb nearby. And that's all you need.
Because God is not hiding, that He would have to be found. He is dwelling right among you, where you already are. The Cross stands tall and cannot be missed. The tomb is wide open; go in and see for yourself. There's nothing secret about the Lord, nothing He's hiding, waiting for you to uncover it. It's all right here.
So don't go running after them. They won't lead you to Him. They'll just keep you running until you come to the end of your days and regret that you never found Him.
When in all truth, He was here all the time, never lost. Never actually needing to be found. He was already with you.
You just needed to stop long enough to see Him.
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