Diligent Searching

With Christmas upon us, I have found myself pondering the command given the wise men searching for the Christ child.  Sent on an errand by Herod, a man terrified of losing his reign to an infant, they put their trust in a star that led them to the single greatest moment of their lives. Can you imagine their journey? How long did it take? Months? Years?  Can you feel their excitement?  Their anticipation? Did you notice their single-mindedness?  How they continually searched until what they sought was found? I wonder if they had any idea how blessed they were to be the ones Herod told to “search diligently” (Matthew 2:8, KJV) for the Baby in the manger. 

I am certain Herod never intended to give a mandate concerning Jesus that would so profoundly resonate through time. Those words are still the best instruction given. They should be our daily directive. Diligently seek to find Jesus. Don’t quit looking. Don’t be distracted. Look everywhere.  Don’t discount anyone or anything. (How different would the story be if the wise men had ignored that star!) Search diligently.  Find him. Find Christ.

For us, the search is not for a baby, but for the gentle whisper of Christ in every aspect of our lives, every individual we encounter, every circumstance we face.  It is seeing him when we look out the window and see weather that keeps us housebound.  It is searching for him when the whole family is struck with the flu at the same time.  It is in the unshakeable faith that he is there even when we don’t readily see him, and the constant searching to see his hand, his face, his heart.

When I read those words, I hear a call for us to embark on a journey to find Jesus. We must daily find him in our own hearts.  I’ll be honest. I get busy, harried.  Sometimes I pray on the run and read a Psalm after the kids are in bed.  It becomes a little like checking a box rather than a special time of searching out a new promise or dwelling on an old truth. The image of Jesus imprinted in my head becomes clouded, his voice a little muffled.  And I realize that I haven’t been diligently searching, seeking to stay in close contact with him.  Thankfully, the truth of Jeremiah 29:13, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (KJV) and echoed in Luke 11:9, “…seek, and ye shall find…” (KJV) still applies. The God seeker is rewarded. Those who seek Him find true treasure. 

It is also a call to search out Jesus’ heart for the people around us. What do we see when we look at the people around us? When we see the rude lady at the supermarket, the homeless man on the corner, or the prostitute in the bowels of her own hell, do we see people lovingly crafted by God or do we totally discount Genesis 1:27 where it says that God made man in his own image? Do we see people as treasures beloved by God? Do we love them because Jesus does?

 It may take diligent searching to see Jesus around us. We don’t readily see him in ragamuffin humanity. His image may be dim, but he is there. We must seek to have a heart like Jesus. We must love those individuals crafted in God’s image who find themselves on a less than stellar path. It is in seeing that soul as lovable that we have truly found the image of Jesus we were seeking. It is in loving that soul that we have truly found God’s heart.

 And so it is a journey of building blocks.  To see Jesus around us, we must first diligently seek him with our whole hearts.  We must never give up the search to find more of Jesus. Once we find him, we must not let go. We must diligently search every face for traces of God.  Where we see no trace, we must become his hands and feet.  It is not a journey for the faint of heart.  It is a lifelong dedication to intimately know and enact the heart of Christ.

So this Christmas, I want to diligently seek Jesus and be rewarded by that great find. I want to find him in myself, my life, my world. I resolve to seek him diligently in the coming year.  I pray that my thoughts, words and actions portray the result of this diligent seeking. I urgently desire that I will be blessed with the opportunity to touch others who are seeking him too. For you, I pray that you will diligently seek Christ as the center of your Christmas, and that his presence will saturate your lives in the coming year.

Be blessed.