I don’t know the specific passage, but there’s more than one. Seek the LORD while He may be found. This surprises me in Scripture. When a pronoun is referring to God it’s not capitalized. Now that may not be true in all translations, but the ones I use most frequently do not. I digress. My emphasis here is not on that point, rather it is on the “simple” practice of seeking our Father. The distractions that seek to draw us away from that are numerous. I don’t have to tell you that. You know from experience.

I think that’s why I’m so enamored with this time of year. Even those who wish me a Happy Holidays are influenced by the baby who was born of a virgin. They may not believe in the birth, life, death, burial and resurrection, but they can’t get on the internet or go out into North American culture without seeing signs that He was and His Spirit is still here.

I’m sitting in my dining room gazing at the glow of my computer while I wait on a breakfast casserole to warm up in the oven. One hundred years ago this house I dwell in was not here, and one hundred years from now I have no way of knowing if it will still be here, but I do know that men will still be seeking the Father. Even in my sort time on this rock I’ve seen all my grandparents pass from this life, but the same God they prayed to when they were here is here for me to call on. That amazes me.

Time is a factor I’ll never fully grasp. I know it comes and goes, and those we love will pass on from this earth, but the reality of the presence of an all loving Father will never pass from our existence. There are some who don’t know if He is real or not, and there are others who emphatically deny that He exists. I emphatically affirm His existence.

His presence convicts me of my sin. His presence illuminates the right choices to make. His redemption is bigger than my choice to be baptized at the age of ten. He takes my prodigal times and turns them into holy moments that can only happen through His power. What He did through the birth, death, burial, resurrection and sending of the Spirit can never be undone. I give into fear. People reject church because they label me a hypocrite. I’ve been a hypocrite. Rejecting God because of hypocrites does not incriminate the hypocrite. It incriminates you. If a cop pulls you over for speeding, and you accuse him of being a hypocrite because he was speeding to pull you over do you think he’ll say, “You’re right. I won’t give you a ticket. Have a nice day”? Every manner of sin is inside the four walls of the church, but every single one of us is going to give an account of how we sought our Father.

God doesn’t force any of us to do what He wants us to do. Our county celebrates “freedom,” but when you reject God, His instructions about life and His people who will protect you from the consequences that come from that? I realize there are people who call themselves Christians that are very difficult people to interact with, much less be with. But God loves the worst of us unconditionally. He does not condone our sin or weirdness. He wants us to follow Him. He wants us to seek Him the same way the shepherds and the magi sought Him.

One day we will not have to fear nuclear war. We won’t have to fear being robbed at the mall. We won’t have to fear an intruder breaking into our house while we sleep. We won’t have to fear running out of money, and we won’t have to fear dying. Those things came because Adam and Eve rejected God.

Jesus corrected that problem. Will you believe?