August 11th – Proverbs 11: Hide & Seek

“He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for it.” – Proverbs 11:27

Those in the world call this principle the “Law of Attraction”. Here is the definition from Wikipedia:

The Law of Attraction is a metaphysical New Thought belief that "like attracts like", that positive and negative thinking bring about positive and negative physical results, respectively. According to the Law of Attraction, the phrase "I need more money" allows the subject to continue to "need more money". If the subject wants to change this they would focus their thoughts on the goal (having more money) rather than the problem (needing more money). This might take the form of phrases such as "I have as much money as I need" or "I have a job that pays very well".

I believe that this principle is way less mystical than they might tell us. The simple reality is that you find what you are looking for. How many of us have been looking at buying a certain type of car, and then miraculously, all of a sudden, everywhere we go, we see the car we are thinking of buying! Did the roadways suddenly become populated with the make and model of car we are looking for, or did we just start “seeing” what we are looking for?

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” – Philippians 4:8

We see this principle play out time and time again in all sorts of different situations. Folks come to our church many times after a bad experience at their last church. Maybe they had a falling out with the pastor or someone in authority at the last church. When they arrive here, they are “looking” to get hurt by people in authority; and they aren’t disappointed! All that it takes for someone like this to get hurt is a sideways glance or someone no saying hello when they come to church. It doesn’t matter how nice or how understanding we can be, when people are looking to get hurt, they get hurt!

Many believers want good things to come upon them. They want a life full of passion, power and prosperity. But they are looking in the wrong place! Instead of seeking after such things, they turn on the TV and watch a bunch of worldly crap or they read trendy gossip rags. They call their friends for the latest gossip and spread slander about their pastor or maybe complain about their marriage, their husband and their finances. They are looking for bad stuff and they aren’t disappointed! The negativity just COMES to them.

If they simply changed their behavior and went looking for the right stuff, they would find it! You want passion? SPEND TIME WITH JESUS! You want to see the power of God? Then CONSISTENTLY put yourself in positions of impossibility where you need to see God move! PRAY FOR THE SICK! You want prosperity? Then turn off the TV, get off the phone with your stupid friends, put down the gossip rag and DO YOUR WORK WITH DILIGENCE! Oh yeah, you also need to give your time, energy and yes, MONEY generously.

LIFE LESSON:

Want Good? Seek Good will.