7 “ Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9Or what person is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matthew 7:7-12
12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
The Well Off ask, seek, knock God for what they lack.
Why would Jesus go from provision to judgement to provision? Seems random.
When we recognize we judge, put down and demean because we lack, we recognize the parallel between provision and judgement.
Demeaning others is an attempt to put others down and lift ourselves up. The goal is to lift ourselves up to the point of receiving what we lack.
A decent human father will not give a stone when the child asks for bread. Nor will he give a snake when the child asked for an eel (delicacy to them…even if it isn’t to you!). Notice the similarities in the items. When the father brings a stone instead of bread, the child, from a distance, can’t tell the difference. He gets excited because he can eat. Only to be disappointed when he sees his father brought him an inedible stone. The daughter gets excited when she thinks her father is bringing a food delicacy of an eel only to be repulsed by a snake.
When we demean others to get what we lack, we treat God like he is a delinquent Father. We believe we know best what we need. Instead of trusting him fully and patiently, we think he is someone who will bring us a stone when we need bread.
Therefore, we must put people down in order to get what we want.
Jesus has a better way…
The Well Off trust God fully.
If they believe they lack something from God, they will adjust their view of what they need until God provides. They do not need to attack and demean other people to get what they think they lack. Because they know in God’s eyes, they do not lack.
We are human. So this is not easy. When we lack, we get scrappy. Scrappy is good until we begin to use our scrappiness to claw others.
The Well Off persevere with God
Ask, seek, knock. Three action words of deepening action. God will build perseverance inside of us. He will build perseverance through delaying a gift.
Again, we are human. This is a struggle. Our natural inclination is to scratch and claw others for what we think we need and want.
Instead, God gives us an outlet for our scrappy energy. Be scrappy with God. Ask him what’s going on. Seek him if you have a hard time finding him. Knock and knock and knock on his door until he answers.
Perseverance builds faith. The more we persevere today, the more we realize God always gives what we need for tomorrow.
The Well Off are patient with God
Ok. As if the first two aren’t hard enough in our human state. Being patient on God is the toughest! But when we are patient with God, we spend our energy seeking him. We don’t have any leftover energy to demean others!
Leaders want quick answers and results. Take a pill. Attend a conference. Go to a class. Bodda-bing, bodda-boom! We have insta-results! We lack no more!
We’re human. We lack because we’re made from dust.
Except that we have a Heavenly Father who knows everything we lack and has an answer for it. Today. Tomorrow. Next year. He builds us one day at a time through the practice of seeking him for everything we lack.
Prayer: God, give me the trust, perseverance and patience needed to seek you for what I lack.
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