Some of my fondest memories are of days spent playing outside with my four or five friends in the neighborhood. One of our favorite games was hide and seek. I remember standing, face first, against a tree then counting to 20. "One Mississippi. two Mississippi, Three Mississippi..." I shouted as loud as I could. My eyes were squinted tightly closed and my ears were on high alert. I listened for crunching branches, disturbed bushes and any other noise that would give away someone's hiding place. I have to say my friends were pretty creative because sometimes I just couldn't find them. But sometimes, I did! Those were the days!
I thought my days of hide and seek were long gone. But the closer I walk with Jesus, the more I am learning that isn't true. The idea of "hiding and seeking" has simply changed. Yes, we hide in Jesus. God requires perfect righteousness to enter His Kingdom. We are a people who are lacking the righteousness required on our own. So we trust in His imputed righteousness to secure our place in heaven. "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." 1Cor 1:30
We also hide in Jesus as we walk with Him on a daily basis. I had a dear friend that used to encourage me by saying, "God is looking at you with His Jesus glasses on." As we walk day in and day out falling into sin, walking into sin, sometimes not even aware of it. Indeed God sees us, as followers of Christ, through the filter of His Son's shed blood. "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace" Eph 1:7 My friend was on to something. God no longer looks down at us who believe with condemnation. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," Rom. 8:1 Rather we are free to walk in His forgiveness and grace. This is where seeking comes in.
Most of us have the hiding part down pat, when it comes to seeking, that requires a little effort. We need to be doing this everyday! Be it one verse or twenty, we can't be seeking God's will for our lives if we aren't in the word of God. Remember we have an enemy that hates us. He will use people to try and gets us off track. He did it to Jesus. He'll do it to us.
"But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." Matt 16:23 Satan according to God's word in John 8:44 says of him, "... He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies."
The reason we need to be seeking God in His word is this.... How does one recognize a lie if you don't know the truth? We need to know the truth! We need the truth about God, the truth about us and the world we live in and the truth about our true home with God. We can't go by our feelings.
Why? Our feelings are wrong much of the time. Our feelings also change. God doesn't. "I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed." Malachi 3:6 Human emotions can run like a giant washing machine in our minds. They go up, they do down and all around at the tip of a hat. Jesus, who is the Word, is often referred to as the "anchor" of our souls. That is exactly what He is! "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain," Heb 6:19
The word of God reveals Jesus to us in every situation. He is our hiding place, He is Who we seek as we live out our lives day to day. One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi...No need to listen for your footsteps, now I know where to look!
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