Seeking God

I was recently asked the question, "can people seek God for the wrong reasons." My answer is below:

Jeremiah tells us, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13, NIV). Other verses that encourage us to seek God are: Deut. 4:29, Psalm 105:4, Isaiah 55:6, Hosea 10:12, Luke 11:10 and Acts 17:27

To one extent or another, we all seek God for the wrong reasons. Our sinful nature is deceptive and we all struggle with pride and selfishness. Because of this, we often seek God for what he can do for us. None of us seeks God from a pure motive. If you have any doubt of this, read Romans 7 where the Apostle Paul outlines his struggle against the flesh.

The good news is that God has shown us the way that we will find him. We must approach God in humility and repentance through the work of Jesus on the Cross. Jesus is the only way to God (see John 14:6). As we approach a Holy God, our perspective on what we really need gets changed. As we begin to see ourselves the way God sees us, the seeking becomes more about who God is and less about getting my needs met.

So, while one may begin to search for God for the wrong reasons, he will find that during the search his heart is changed and he begins to seek God for the right reasons. We may start seeking because we feel incomplete or damaged, but we progress toward seeking God for who he is. We may begin to seek God for what he can do for us, but we progress to seeking God to be near him. We begin to understand that we are created to be in fellowship with God, a fellowship that was broken by the sin of Adam. We progress toward seeking God to have that fellowship restored. It is a love relationship that seeks the other because of the value of the other, not because of what the other does for him.

Those who do not have their hearts changed in this way during the seeking, will not find God. To submit to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the only means of coming into fellowship with God. Those who refuse to submit to Jesus may find religion, but they will not find God.