It is not enough to “seek” Jesus. Our motives must be right, and we must seek the higher things that Jesus is able to provide. Jesus will provide “loaves and fishes,” but He desires to help us with problems much greater than physical hunger.
Our Heavenly Father knew we would need a regular means of remembering the sacrifice that made our forgiveness possible, and He has graciously provided this means in the bread and fruit of the vine that we partake of each Lord’s Day.
It is a glorious freedom that we experience, and it is right for us to enjoy it — but each Lord’s Day when we remember our Savior’s death, let’s be humbled by the reminder that our freedom was purchased at a high price, paid by our Father.
Our confidence in our salvation rests upon our certainty that apostles’ testimony is true. So it is important for us to be sure that what Christ originally taught is true and that the apostles’ written records are reliable and trustworthy.
In areas where we may not understand the rationale for what God commands, let’s trust that God knows what He is doing. Because we have faith that God is wise and that He will never lead us astray, let’s obey whatever God’s will is.
We need to make the effort throughout life to grow deeper in the knowledge of what prayer should be. Indeed, there is more to learn about communicating with God than we could learn in a long lifetime. The challenge is to keep learning and growing.
Just as Israel was tempted to rely on other help other than what God provided, we may not place our total confidence in Him. We may be tempted to “supplement” our faith in God with a variety of earthly confidences: worldly wealth, wisdom, and power.
God expects us to grow to maturity in Christ, and we must decide to cooperate with His plan for our perfection in eternity. Spiritual growth is not optional. If we’re negligent or lazy right now, we can’t depend on grace to get us to heaven.
In the final analysis, what really are the components of genuine happiness? If we’re serious about answering that question, the account in Genesis 2 of Adam and Eve’s happiness in the Garden of Eden will be of more than passing interest to us.
As special as the relationship was that God entered into with the nation of Israel, that relationship was only meant to foreshadow and prepare for the even more special union between God and spiritual Israel, which is the church of Jesus Christ.
