Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord,
the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and
love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Amos 5:14-15 ESV
As I spent more time on this morning's verse, the first two words took on more and more meaning with me. "Seek good."
Merriam-Webster defines seek as "to go in search of" or "to make an effort to do". Living the Christian life is about more than just avoiding sin or even doing the right thing. We are called to seek for and search out good. Waiting for God to drop a ministry opportunity in our lives is passive Christianity. Wishing God would provide us an opportunity to witness if it works out is weak discipleship.
Seek. Search. Strive. These are verbs, not nouns. Too many Christians live safe, not sanctified lives. Security trumps sacrifice. Let's beg God to show us ministry opportunities. In Luke 18, we find the story of the persistent widow. In this parable, a widow demands justice time and again. Eventually the judge granted her justice "so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming."
Often this parable is used to illustrate the power of persistent prayer for unmet needs or spiritual guidance. What if we used the parable to help remind us to "seek good". Do we beg God to convict us of the good we should be
doing? Is our heart genuinely desirous of opportunities, however
inconvenient, to further the Kingdom of God?
Seek good, don't just let it happen.
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