Ask

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”  Mathew 7:7

One of the things that amazed people who heard Jesus speak was the authority of his words. He did not teach like the rabbis and doctors of the Law. They truthfully relayed the words of the Law and the prophets. Jesus spoke from firsthand knowledge as the author. He countered, “You have heard it said…” with “But I say unto you…”

In that vein, He gave three simple keys for men who want to have fellowship with God. Of course, when I say simple, I mean simple to say, simple to know, but not necessarily simple to do. That is the way of Christianity because the gold standard of every word of scripture is perfect execution of both the letter and the spirit.

The first of these keys is to ask. No matter how much you love someone you cannot force them to love you in return. And, if you could, would it really be love? God loves you and He wants your love in return. God will not force Himself nor His ways upon you. Therefore, if you would have love, peace and fellowship with God, you must ask for it from your heart.

Salvation is not found in words of repentance spoken by rote or as a kind of begrudged talisman. Initially, repentance and the salvation that follows may not require spoken words at all. It is an act of the heart, moved by love, asking for that which only God can give.

Christian maturity is built on asking. As new life begins by asking, any growth that follows flows from asking God. James says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” In the context of his letter James was writing about more than just wisdom, he was writing about spiritual growth. A wise person knows growth comes by overcoming temptation, faith, work, and patience. These come from God, so ask, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering”.

God is the ultimate source of all good. At times God’s idea about what is good for us differs from ours. C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity, tells how as a child, he had bad teeth. However, he wouldn’t tell his mother if he had a toothache. The reason was that she would take him to the dentist and dentists never wanted to just relieve the toothache, they wanted to “meddle” with all kinds of things that didn’t hurt.

He contends that God is like those dentists. When we go to Him and ask Him in, He will relieve our initial distress, but he won’t stop there. God wants our entire being fixed. He has a detailed plan tailored just for us on how He will get us there. He never tires of hearing us ask from the back seat, “God, are we there yet?”

Maranatha