Scripture: Matthew 7:7-8
Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Thought for the Day: We must always understand that prayer is not putting coins in a heavenly vending machine. It is not picking out the correct spiritual coinage that will produce our specific wants or yearnings. God is not a vending machine. Instead, God is spoken of in relational language like Father (the word is more intimate, something like Daddy), Creator, Living Word and Mother Eagle. So when Jesus invites us to ask, search and knock, he is inviting us into a more intimate relationship with God. The end goal of the asking, seeking and knocking is the relationship itself that will help to produce less hypocrisy, arrogance and selfishness (see the previous verses, Matthew 7:1-6). Like so much of scripture, we arrogantly yank it from its context to seek our own selfish wants or to defend our judgmental ways. But when read within the scriptural context, its a bit more challenging and a whole lot less self-serving. That doesn’t mean we keep our fears, concerns and illnesses from God. Absolutely not! God desires to be in relationship, and for that reason, we are invited to bring all of who we are before God. Yet again, what is the point of this spiritual endeavor? As it says in vs 12, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.”
Prayer: By faith, I believe you desire for me to know you more deeply, O Loving God. As you have sought me out in Christ, may I continue to seek you so that, together, we can begin to change the world by first seeking real change within me. Amen.
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