Last week when I went to have a stitch removed in follow-up to my eye surgery, someone whom I encountered had a tattoo on her arm that said “Seek Jesus.” I asked her to tell me about her tattoo and she shared with me her “Jesus story.”  She had grown up in a Christian home and had received Christ as her Savior and even attended a Christian college in Minnesota where she had a scholarship to play softball. But, she had strayed from following Jesus.  A friend back home who had cancer was in the hospital and not doing well, so she took the train back to Montana to see her friend. He died while she was there to visit and his last words to her were “Seek Jesus.” In his memory, she had those words tattooed on her arm.  I asked her how she was doing in that regard—seeking Jesus—and she said she was back in fellowship with the Lord and involved in a good Bible-teaching church—PTL!     

The Bible has much to say about the importance of seeking the Lord. The word used means “to follow or pursue diligently.”  In the Old Testament, when David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, he challenged the people to celebrate, saying: “Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face continually. Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done…” (I Chr. 16:8-12).  Shortly before David died, he exhorted his son, Solomon: “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your Father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let your find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever” (I Chr. 28:9).

God is always looking for those who will seek Him with their whole heart. “God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God” (Psa. 53:2). David, who was called “a man after God’s own heart” (I Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22),  was one who did that. He wrote: “O GOD, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly” (Psa. 63:1).  The prophet Isaiah gave this admonition to Israel: “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near” (Isa. 55:6).   When the LORD gave a message through the prophet Jeremiah to the Jews in captivity in Babylon,He said: “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).      

In His “sermon on the Mount,” Jesus spoke these words in relation to anxiety:  “Do not be anxious then saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you” (Mt. 6:31-33).     

Some seek success in business or sports or entertainment. Some seek fulfillment in riches, some in power and prestige, some in the pleasures this world has to offer.  God says we are to seek Him and His Kingdom and His righteousness. That’s the purpose for which we were made. We were created with a God-shaped vacuum in our heart which only Jesus can fill. Only as we seek Him first and foremost does our life take on its intended meaning, purpose and significance.  The amazing thing is that when we really do “seek Jesus” above all else, we find the fulfillment that others look for in everything but God.  Some Christians look for a “second blessing,” or some special spiritual experience of manifestation of a  spiritual gift, not realizing that we are complete in Christ (Col. 2:10), and need not go outside of Him to find “something more.”   He is all we need. Even the Holy Spirit, when He comes to indwell believers, comes not to glorify Himself, but to glorify Christ (Jn. 16:14).  Seek Jesus. Seek Him first and foremost. Seek nothing else and settle for nothing (no one) else.      

Maybe we all need a tattoo to remind us to “SEEK JESUS.”   Well, we really already have an inner reminder. We have the Holy Spirit living in us and one of His ministries is to motivate us to do that very thing: “Seek Jesus.”              

Forever His,                

Pastor Dave