What are you chasing after?

What are you chasing after?

Success.

Friendship.

Wealth.

The next promotion.

Attention.

Affection.

Recognition.

Jealousy.

Sanity.

Love.

We are all chasing after something. Seeking improvement or peace. We can’t possibly stay put and accept what we currently have as all we will ever need. No, we don’t want to be stagnant. 

But what does God’s word say?

King Solomon a man of great wisdom said, “I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, a futile grasping and chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14)

Is everything a chasing after the wind? 

Goals are great. Motivation is wonderful. Purpose is everything. 

But what does it all become after we are gone? 

There is one thing to chase that isn’t wind. Something we can live for that won’t leave when we are gone. It’s God’s kingdom. Becoming a servant, a follower of Christ. 

What does that mean? What does it mean to live for Jesus? Loving others? Yes. But so much more. 

It means loving God first. Jesus was asked what were the greatest commandments. Here’s the  convo in Matthew 22:36-40 (AMP)

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” And Jesus replied to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others].’ The whole Law and the [writings of the] Prophets depend on these two commandments.”

What does loving God with everything in me mean? It means He’s the first thing on your mind in the morning and you think of him throughout the day. It means every decision you make you run it by him and you long to please Him. 

This is a hard teaching. Because when I wake up in the morning, I’m thinking about my coffee, my breakfast, my schedule, my goals. But that’s my will. God’s will is different. But it’s better. 

When we put aside our desires and seek His desires, something in us changes. We become kingdom focused. “May your kingdom come. Your will be done.” When I wake up and say the Lord’s prayer over and over again until I mean it, I’m putting God’s will before my own. I’m getting my focus off of what I think is most important and letting him show me what is most important. 

Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:33 (AMP) “But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.”

See, our character is everything to God. He wants to mold each one of us into the image of His Son. He wants us to be like Jesus, perfect, holy, and full of compassion. Does that not sound impossible? And that’s exactly what He does, he makes the impossible possible. When we seek Him first. When we seek His kingdom first and His righteousness, he then takes care of every need we have and transforms us.

He’s our dad, our father. He knows what’s best for us. He wants to provide for us. But He won’t do it if we are fighting against Him, against His love and desire for us. But when we let go of our desires, our goals, and desires, and seek Him first and tell him all of our dreams, He makes the good ones come true. He makes them better than what we imagined. 

I was once a young girl, wanting love, desiring a future of happiness, but I was going about it the wrong way. In my youth, I was so hungry for love I’d be in wrong relationships getting used and hurt and finding everything but love. But when I gave my heart to God, He turned that around in me. He helped me to respect myself. He taught me about His love and care. He wasn’t out to hurt me like every other guy I met. He blessed me with a husband and family that truly brings me joy.

Let me tell you, something more recent. 

Just the other day I made my to-do list for the day. Then I prayed over each item. I have never really done that without getting distracted or just saying a general “Lord help me get everything done today” kind of prayer.  I just usually make my list then get going on it. I took about 5 minutes and went through each item, praying over each conversation I planned to have or place I planned to go. Let me tell you, I’m doing it again every day since. 

The best part of that short prayer, is a friend I had been praying for decided to come to church with me this past Sunday. Thank God I got my mind off myself that day. My day was focused on God’s concerns. I have been praising Him for that. God blesses us for our faithfulness. That day, I was walking in his will, and his blessings and not focused on my worries and the concerns of this world that bog down the mind. My mind was renewed. 

Romans 12:1-2 (MSG) “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

What are you chasing? 

What are you after? 

If it’s God you are after, wonderful. If it’s God and other things, good. But bring those other things to God and ask Him what he thinks. 

There are certain things as a child I would never do around my dad. For example, as a teen I would never watch an inappropriate movie around him. I just knew that wouldn’t make him happy and there was no way I wanted to be lectured on the matter.

Is there anything you are doing or after that you just know is not God’s will? Then let it go. You know it’s not good for you. 

Sometimes we don’t know until we bring it up in prayer. Sometimes we just are doing random things that will make no difference in eternity. Stressing about things just to ease our own conscience or obsessions. Or getting involved in the affairs of others thinking we are the answer. 

We aren’t the answer, only Jesus is. 

We aren’t called to be the answer. We are called to serve and become unimportant. Then after that is when we will become great. For His glory. For His reasons. It’s time to get our eyes off ourselves and on His will. It is that denial of self. It’s painful. It hurts. 

The way of Jesus is a way of suffering. Taking up our cross daily means daily suffering. But suffering to our own will so that His will be done takes the pain away. It’s the weirdest thing. It brings peace and freedom. Jesus said his burden is light. It’s not heavy. The hardest part of letting go of our desires is just that. Once you let go, it’s easy it’s light. It fills your heart with peace I cannot describe. 

Every day, let’s chase after God. Let’s let go of ourselves, and let Him hold us. Let Him lead us. Be ready to serve Him first. 

Mark 10:28-31 Amplified Bible (AMP)

“Peter started saying to Him, “Look, we have given up everything and followed You [becoming Your disciples and accepting You as Teacher and Lord].” Jesus said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, there is no one who has given up a house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, who will not receive a hundred times as much now in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms—along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.””

God has promised us blessings in this life and in the afterlife if we become his true disciples. 

May God empower us, by the Holy Spirit, to become last and not first, to serve and not be served. 

God bless. 

-Sarah Joy