When you are holding a small child, you realize how much time they spend touching your face. They are fascinated by it and will reach for a nose or an ear (or sometimes an earring) so that they can feel this person that is staring down at them. Soon they realize, however, that if they want something, it usually comes from a person’s hands. Faces are great for kisses and snuggles, but they aren’t the normal delivery method for toys or food. Someone’s hands brings them these things and as they get older, the child is much more likely to reach for someone’s hands than to touch their face.
We often follow the same pattern with God. We have an insatiable desire to get to know Him – to see Him for Who He is and to love Him because of it. Then, as He dispenses good gifts to us, we make the foolish decision to seek the distribution of His kindness rather than the knowledge of His character. We trade our eternal relationship with Him for our temporal comforts and conveniences.
It’s a ridiculous exchange. Yet despite its foolishness, it happens time and time again. We pursue the gifts and not the Giver. Instead of His face, we seek His hands. He’s offered us all He is, and we’re content with what He can give to us.
Yet in the Christian faith, that’s not what growth look like. Growth means knowing Him more, not less. It means that we are longing to understand Him, not just to understand His plans. It means that we desire Him and His will, not our own.
May this be true of us – may we seek Him and Him alone. Knowing that as we do so, He is faithful to dispense good gifts to us. But even if He doesn’t, it would be o.k., because we would have Him.
Share your thoughts – What are the ways that you seek God and not only what He can give you?
(Author’s Note – This post was inspired in part by “Audience of One” by Big Daddy Weave.)
