If you seek Him, you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart and soul (See Deut. 4:29). Simple, but not easy.

It’s easy to give up on finding God when you seek Him halfheartedly. Anything worth having is not easy to obtain. If it were it wouldn’t be worth much. What God has in His hand is priceless. The only thing of value we have to Him is ourselves, and that’s only because He loves us. We have nothing that will add to nor take away from Him. And when you understand our nature and His you wonder why He even bothers.

It takes a while, though, to reach that humbling level of understanding, but God is patient. He really wants us to know who He is, but He won’t hand His heart out casually as though it is something you can find at any flea market.

So if you want to find Him, you need to put something in your search. The first is faith. You must believe that He whom you seek is real and He’ll make it worth your while looking for Him (See Heb. 11:6).

Then you seek God the same way you pursue your dreams. You put everything you got into it. People who’re passionate about becoming entertainers, doctors, lawyers, activists, etc. sacrifice everything and everyone–including themselves–to achieve their goals. They will take the heat from their families and naysayers. They endure hardships and resist temptation and the pressure to quit because they believe. Passion and zeal drive them and they let nothing stop them.

If you expect to find God, you must be willing to do the same for Him. You must believe He’s worth it.

The people who pressed their way through the multitude to see Jesus pursued their greatest desire whether it was healing, deliverance, or forgiveness. Ask the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair (Luke 7:38) if she cared what anyone thought. Or the woman who poured the jar of expensive alabaster over Jesus’ head (Matt. 26:7). The bleeding woman who pressed her way through the throng of people just to touch His hem (Mark 5:25-28) or the blind man who called out to Him despite rebuke (Luke 18:35-39). They reached for Him with all they had, and they got Him.

Jesus often asked those who pursued Him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

I ask you, What do you want? That is your fuel. Without a vision or a hope you won’t give it all you got. And you won’t find Him.

Like any dream: Blood, sweat and tears.

More than any dream: You will gain more than you lose.

You begin your search expecting to find one thing, but you will discover so much more because when you find God, you’ll also find yourself.

Even if you didn’t know you were lost.

–D.L. Lunsford