AI Devotional
April 15, 2004
Ask, Seek, and Knock
My wife and I were at the Corte Madera mall a couple of years ago. While we were sitting outside eating our lunch, we found a $10 bill right on the ground. It was rolled up like the way kids kept their allowance money while shopping at the mall—not like the way we keep our money in a wallet. We looked around to see if there was any likely owner. We didn’t see any. So we kept the $10 bill exposed right on top of our lunch tray, hoping that some youth would discover that he/she has lost the money to return for it. No one did so we were $10 richer! Since that time, whenever my wife and I are eating lunch at this food court, we would be looking on the ground hoping to find another $10 bill.
There’s a story of a young man who found a $5 bill lying on the sidewalk. From that time on he always kept his eyes fixated downward whenever he walked anywhere. In the course of his lifetime, he ended up accumulating 29,516 buttons, 54,712 pins, 12 cents, a bent back and a miserly disposition. But during this time, he lost the opportunity to see the radiance of the sunlight, the shine of the stars, the smiles on the faces of his friends, and the blossoms of springtime. He missed out on what God intended for him because his eyes were fixated only on the past.
Discerning God’s Plan
If all we do is to remember that we found a $5 or a $10 bill sometime in the past and allow our lives to be driven with the hope of finding more money that way, we would end up with a bad posture, chump change, and lots of junk. God is calling us to not be afraid to believe that our future as a people of faith is not entirely based in what we might have found in the past but on what we might be able to see in the future when we keep our heads and our eyes fixated upward to God and outward to others.
In this passage from Matthew 7, Jesus noticed that his disciples were a bit timid about their prayers. They were always looking downward when they were praying. They may have been afraid to pray because they were afraid of God. If we think that God is like a demanding boss and you as a worker are afraid to ask for a day off, you would be afraid to pray. To the contrary, Jesus insists that God is not an unfair boss; instead God is a compassionate boss who promises to provide good gifts to those who ask in prayer.
For our time together, we can learn from what Jesus taught his disciples about praying to God. First we need to “ask.” We “guys” never want to ask for directions because we are too proud to admit that we are lost. (That’s why I think men invented the GPS—global positioning system!) We don’t know it all even when we think we do. When we set aside our pride, we would then be able to value what others are bringing to the discussion. When we learn to ask, we build relationships leading to effective teamwork.
Secondly, Jesus taught us to “search.” Remember the woman who lost her coin. She searched all night until she found it. Our task is to go out of our way, take the necessary time, open up our eyes and ears to search out what others are saying. We put aside our self-righteousness and purposely search out other insights and understandings that portray the full truth of who we are as American Baptists.
And lastly, we need to “knock.” Whether we want to admit it or not, we live in a divided and fragmented world and we see this reflected in our denomination as well. There are doors that are closed to us even when we would like to come in. We must not be afraid to knock on the doors of people and groups that we may not want to hear from or they may not want to share with us. How else will we be able to love one another on either side of the door unless we begin to open our doors.
Bold Prayers
We have all been taught and conditioned to not ask in prayer for things that we want. Should we pray for a raise or help on an exam or a miracle of healing? The line between what we genuinely need and what we merely want is often quite thin. We try to even edit our prayers so that they are not self-gratifying. But Jesus pushes us to pray the other way—toward a prayer that is daring, bold, and even brash. When we pray we don’t need to sift the wheat from the chaff because God hears behind the words that we say and know our deepest needs and give us good gifts.
When we are overly careful about what we pray thinking that we might be asking for something that is not in God’s will, we may in fact think that we are in control of God. Whatever we pray will not somehow put God in a bind or that our prayers will have some kind of magical effects to manipulate God’s will.
Jesus calls us, American Baptists today for some courageous, venturesome, seek it, open-minded prayers. When we communicate to God and ask, search, and knock to seek a new vision for American Baptists to serve God in our day, we must not be timid, looking always downward hoping to find something like what we had in the past.
Jesus calls us to not be afraid to seek after big things, wonderful dreams to come true, deep desires in the hearts of American Baptists, the needs of hurting people, and the hopes and wishes of a people of faith. If we are willing as good parents to give each other good gifts like bread and fish and an egg, not stones and snakes and scorpion, imagine how much more God who is wise and loving will give to us when we ask, search and knock.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, lead us to replace our hesitant and bashful prayers to you with bold and courageous communion with you. We ask that your presence guide our work and lead us to discern your will for the life and mission of American Baptists. Thank you for this opportunity and privilege to serve you in the name of Christ, the Lord of the Resurrection. Amen.