Seek Me Firstနမူနာ

"Seek Me first. Seek Me like you seek coffee."

I've been in a long-term committed relationship with coffee for more than half my life. During stressful moments, celebrations, long nights, and early mornings, coffee has been there. As a student, coffee pulled me through many "all-nighters" writing papers and studying for exams. Early in my career as a nurse, coffee accompanied me on every night shift. However, my relationship with coffee went to a whole other level when I became a mother.

To me, coffee is the "sweet nectar of parenthood," because honestly, sometimes the anticipation of sipping a delicious coffee when the sun comes up is the only thing that gets me through those long, dark, exhausting nights. No matter how many times I am woken up due to fevers or coughing or bedwetting or growing pains or nightmares, I can look forward to warm, wonderful coffee. I'll confess that coffee is usually the first thing I think about when my eyes open in the morning. On my more holy days, I wake up and say a prayer of gratitude to God... for coffee!

So you can see why God drew my attention to coffee as a metaphor for how I can seek Him as my vital necessity. You see, I depend on coffee. It is the first thing I do each and every single morning. I have a routine with coffee. I allot time for coffee. I allocate money in my budget for it. I spend time shopping for it, preparing it and I make an effort to ensure I am never without it. After drinking coffee, I usually want more, and come back to it throughout the day. I crave it, and when I go without coffee, I am not the same. I don't think clearly. I am lacklustre, feel insufficient, and become irritable. I. Need. Coffee.

So, what if I seek God like I seek coffee? Day in, and day out seek Him. Start my day with Him. Need Him. Crave Him. Come back for more of Him. Allocate my time and resources so I never go without Him. Then I'd be seeking the Lord as my vital necessity.

Granted, it may sound trite or irreverent for me to compare my walk with God to how I consume a beverage. But in His wisdom, God gave me this visible, high-touch, pragmatic, and illustrative metaphor of how He wants permission to permeate every aspect of my life, and yours.

God doesn't want us to just seek Him on Sundays, in small groups, during worship nights or at conferences or special events. These are great, but they are not vital necessities. A vital necessity is something you do and need each and every day to sustain you. Seeking the Lord as your vital need is more about daily devotion than episodic events.

So, what does seeking the Lord as your vital necessity look like in your life? For me, it looks like waking up early and opening the YouVersion Bible App–before I click on anything else–and spending time in God's Word every morning (with my coffee!). It looks like praying while I do laundry (an endless task in my world!), listening to a sermon via podcast during my commute, and playing worship music throughout my day. These are not extraordinary moves that take much effort or discipline–they are just small steps that I take as consistently as I can during my ordinary routines. Yet, seeking God this way has changed my life–even the monotonous parts of my day can be miraculous because of His presence.

The Bible says that the Lord rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). So, look to seek Him throughout the everyday routines of your life. What is something you do–need to do–every day that you can use as a cue to seek Him daily and invite Him in? Do this, and pretty soon your humdrum habits will become opportunities to spend time in His holy presence, revealing His extra in your ordinary.

Let's Pray:

Lord, thank You for Your presence and Your Word. Even though You are God of the universe, You want to be involved and delight in the details of my life. Holy Spirit, open my eyes to see what practical steps I can take to seek You so that even the menial parts of my day can become memorable in Your presence. Thank You for loving me. Amen.

Take Action:

What is something you do every day that you can use as a starting point to seek the Lord daily as your vital necessity? Begin with something small, so that you can commit to it with consistency.

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