What Am I Seeking? (Day 20)

“Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it!”

(Jeremiah 45:5, NLT).

This week we have stayed in the first verse of Colossians 3,

• seeing a plethora of evidence in the NT for Christ being seated at the right hand of God (Day 17),

• listening to Jesus and Paul challenge us to set our hearts on things above (Day 18),

• and being reminded to look up and seek the things that are above (Day 19).

Today I’m sharing an almost-too-recent-to-make-public journal entry because it just seems to fit. We ended yesterday’s post with a “check up,” and self-evaluation is our main goal here.

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August 21, 2020

Father God in heaven & here with me,

Help me seek You & Your Kingdom FIRST! May I NOT seek “great things for myself.” May I not look to my own interests but to the interests of others (Philippians 2:4).

Lord, help me remember that “those of us who are strong & able in the faith need to step in & lend a hand to those who falter, & NOT just do what is most convenient for us.

Strength is for service NOT status.

Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, ‘How can I help?'” (Romans 15:1-2, MSG).

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On Aug. 21 (the birthday of my dearly loved and departed Grandmother Kathryn), I read the Jeremiah 45:5 Scripture as part of the daily Bible plan I’m in with a wonderful, encouraging, faith-filled group of ladies.

The above is the start of a prayer I wrote in my journal that night. What followed was a prayer/rant in which I poured out some of the ugliness of my thoughts and feelings to God, which started with the words, “Last night I scrolled through Facebook after making sure my 12th blog post (yay!) ‘shared’ correctly. I ended up in tears, VERY upset…”

After the messy, let-it-all-out portion of the prayer, I wrote this:

Life is not about how much attention you get.
Life is not about being popular, admired, or “in.”
Life is not about status.

And I think wanting my kids to be recognized for what great young people they are & are becoming is not wrong as long as it doesn’t become the goal or cause me to care less about others.

• Lost people need to find Jesus.

• Immature people need maturity.

• Misguided people need guidance.

• Deceived people need the Truth.

• Graceless people need grace.

• Foolish people need wisdom.

• Selfish people need loving neighbors.

I don’t want to get in the way of what God can do — I want to help.

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During my prayer, the Lord whispered to my heart, these beautiful, hopeful, TRUE words:

“There’s something better for us.”

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I know this is true.
Not only is there something better in the future, there are already many “somethings” better NOW!

We are a family in Christ. We love each other. We’d rather be together than to be apart. We like being home together. The Holy Spirit lives in each one of us! We are learning together. We are learning how to navigate the ups & downs of life & faith & relationships together. I am going to be a part of my children’s schooling in a whole new way — I really like seeing what they’re learning as they’re learning it w/o having to plan it all out myself. But technical difficulties are super stressful!…

You’ve got us.
We’ve got You.
We have something better already, and…

There’s something better for us, hidden with Christ in God.

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"My heart says of You,
'Seek His face!'
Your face, Lord,
I will seek,"

(Psalm 27:8, NIV84).

“O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You, my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry & weary land where there is no water.”

Psalm 63:1 (NIV84)