What are You Seeking? (John 1:38)

Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

- John 1:38

If you have a Bible with the words of Jesus in red, then you will find that the first words spoken by Christ in John's gospel are these.

"What are you seeking?"

Nothing in John is there by accident. There is hidden meaning oozing out of every line, waiting to be discovered by those who seek for it.

I believe that John chose to introduce Jesus asking this question for the following reason:

It is the most important question we could possibly ask ourselves.

Its importance cannot be overstated. I mean this literally. No matter how well I could could convince you of its importance, in reality it would still be more important.

The clinical psychologist and former Harvard professor Jordan Peterson said the following in a recent lecture,

The manner in which the world manifests itself to you is dependent to an indeterminate degree upon what you aim for and how much you're willing to sacrifice to attain it

Said another way, "what you are seeking most in life, and in each moment, is determining, on a continual basis, the reality that are experiencing."

This is not a cliche or an empty platitude. This is a fundamental statement of how reality works, which is not ignored without cost.

How many red cars did you see on the road last time you went for a drive?

You probably have no idea. You probably don't even remember seeing any red cars, even though you almost certainly saw many.

If I told you that tomorrow I would give you $100 for every red car you saw on the road, do you think you'd be able to give me a precise answer?

Not only would you know how many red cars you'd seen, but your awareness would be flooded with red cars, whereas before it had been void of them.

Why?

Because what you seek fundamentally determines what you see.

There are literally infinite amounts of "things" vying for our attention every moment of every day. Our brains cannot possibly perceive all of this data at once. So it only perceives the most relevant information and blocks out the remaining 99.999%.

And what is most relevant? That which you are seeking most.

A thirsty man will immediately see the glass of water on the table while a hungry man will immediately see the cheeseburger.

Two people can even be staring at the same exact physical object, but they can be seeing two completely different things.

One man can look up into the clear night sky and see a dark abyss that he wishes he could disappear into because of how miserable he thinks his life is, while another man could look up at the same sky and be overtaken with wonder and awe as he sees the splendor and glory of the Creator. One man's seeking is tied up with self, the other's is lost in the divine.

This principle applies at the macro and the micro and everything in between. It applies every moment of every day for every person.

This is not a mere matter of positive thinking. It is the revelation that the eternal destiny of man is hanging in the balance of the answer to one simple question,

What are you seeking?

Ask and it will be given to you;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives;

the one who seeks finds;

and to the one who knocks,

the door will be opened.

Matt 7:7-8