To Seek God

By Scott Ferrier, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

Jesus turned and saw the two disciples following and
said to them, “What are you seeking?”
–JN. 1:38

Last month we introduced the purpose and method of the Christian life, formulated by the desert fathers and perpetuated onward within the Christian cultures of both East and West by the monastic orders. We learned that ‘purity of heart’ was the goal here on earth and that the ‘telos’,’or end, was the kingdom of heaven and the beatific vision. In this next article, we call attention to the foremost obstacle to ‘purity of heart’: THE STATE OF THE SINNER.

Everyone is seeking God, even if indirectly, because every person desires happiness. But most of us have discovered, or will discover, that money, possessions, and worldly pleasures do not give peace to a heart that is “restless until it rests in Thee.” The difficulty of the person who is in a state of sin is that, by turning away from God, a person becomes excessively preoccupied with ‘created’ things, preventing them from knowing the true happiness which God desires for us.

By forgetting the bounteous and merciful Creator, the self — my ‘ego,’ in modern terms — becomes the main object of its entire life and activity. Restless and empty, we are preoccupied with filling this emptiness ourselves. The Bible calls this covetousness, an incessant craving that does not satisfy. We try to fill the abyss, but we cannot. The attempt to make peace with our fallen human nature, inclined towards sin, brings dissatisfaction, if we still have a conscience. Life becomes nothing but a trail of sweat, toil, tears, and great troubles.

Neglecting the gift of salvation brings “an anxiety and trouble about many things” (Lk. 10:41). There can be an emptiness of the mind which fosters a concern for excessive knowledge and an unhealthy curiosity leading to temptation. An emptiness of the will produces numerous desires, according to one’s disordered inclinations. Finally, the emptiness of the heart, deprived of the One alone who satisfies and loves, generates a thirst for false pleasures.

To find happiness in this life and the next, our hearts need to be purified with God’s grace. This gift, after being received, remains only with those who are humble of heart. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord” (Jer. 29:13,14).