Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
What has brought you to this blog today? Are you reading to see what Queens Chi Alpha believes in? Are you reading this because you’re curious about Jesus? Or are you trying to understand even more about God?
You might be wondering why I am asking so many questions. As with many questions, they are meant to reveal our motive, our intention. Our intentions act as a filter for information. Whatever the intention is for reading this blog, will filter what information we will take away from it. Then the filter only allows the content that we are looking for into our thoughts. Essentially, we are only going to find what we are really looking for. This truth can be summarized as “intent is prior to content.”
Think for a moment about the last time you lost something. What was it? Where did you find it? I recently lost my keys. Thankfully, I found them. But by the time I realized where my keys were, I was already locked outside of my house. What drove me to find my keys was necessity. What was it that led you to find that last item you lost? Necessity? Or even just a deep desire? Have you ever happened to find something that you weren't looking for? You probably answered “yes,” but this is still a very rare occurrence in most situations. This is because intent is prior to content. My intention will determine what I find in something.
We also see the truth that intent is prior to content when we seek the Lord. Many people will look only for specific things they want to know about God, and when they seek only something specific, they will miss knowing all of who He is. We should be seeking all of Jesus, and not just parts of who He is.
We almost never find things that we are not actively searching for. Do you search after more of Jesus? Do you read His word only through the lens of your current situation, or do you read it to get to know Him better? When we come to the Bible, we should always approach His word with a humble and sincere attitude. God will show you more of Himself if you ask Him to. He never turns away an honest man or woman. What are your intentions of reading the Bible or seeking after Jesus? Stop and ask yourself that. Are your intentions only to please yourself and to get a quick spiritual fix? Are you trying to prove you are right, so you’re looking for scripture to back up why you are living the way you are? All of these motives are wrong. There is only one way to have the correct intention, and that is to seek Jesus, and to get to know Him. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” God’s promise is that we will find Him when we seek Him! How great is that?! There is a literal promise from God that we can know Him!
So how do we seek after Him? First is to spend time with Him. Open up the Bible and read it. If you have never read the Bible before, start with the book of John, and read it all the way through. Many of you are probably already reading the Bible, and are wanting to grow even deeper with Him. I would encourage you to increase your devotional time- ask your small group leader for a good book and read it. Another few things I will challenge you in are to increase your time in prayer, spend more time in godly community with other believers, memorize more of the Bible, and even color code your Bible with different topics as you read. What an honor we have to know God!
- Collin Zellmer