It’s a heart matter to God
I want to preface this by saying that God IS interested in your actions. All the good intentions in the world will do no good if they are not acted upon. But God wants those actions to flow freely out of your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
The NLT says, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” I like this translation because I used to read this verse and see it through a religious mindset. Thinking that seeking God with my whole heart meant doing religious activities instead of doing other things. How many times should I go to church each week? Do I need to attend a Bible study so I can learn the bible more? How much time qualifies? Isn’t that kind of commitment only for pastors and preachers?
What does it mean to seek God with all of your heart?
The first thing I think of when I hear “with all of your heart” is a young child curling up with her daddy and saying, “daddy, I love you with all of my heart!”
The image of a child’s love completely and totally given to her daddy. Nothing missing and nothing broken between them. Nothing left out. Her daddy has her “heart.” All of it!
And to me this represents the best picture of what I believe this scripture means by saying ‘with all of your heart.’
But somehow, I think many, as I have done have interpreted this catchy phrase to mean something quite different and thereby nullifying the beautiful picture of the relationship between a loving God and His children.
When I used to read this scripture, it made me think if I did enough, worked hard enough, I would find God. What this verse does NOT say. When you seek God by doing doing doing, you will find Him. We are human beings (made in the image of God to reflect Him in our thoughts words and actions) not human doers, (made to do the works of God like robots).
You can go to church 3 x’s a week, read a daily devotional, listen to worship music, and attend a weekly bible study, and if it is not done with your whole heart, then you may not find God. Only frustration for your efforts. On the other hand, you might only read one verse out of the Bible in the morning, and keep it in front of your thoughts throughout the day, and God could reveal Himself to you. Praise God, He is interested having your whole heart, not what you DO for Him.
Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Mt 7:7).
God has made Himself completely and totally available to those who want him. You can have as much of God as you WANT. Do you want Him? He calls to us, but he does not force us to follow. The crucial element to finding what we seek when we seek God is to put all our heart into it. This we will do only when we value God and a relationship with him more than anything else. Could this scripture then, also mean that we are not to have a divided heart? Our affections cannot be for the things of this world and for God. I believe this verse says that if our first love is God, then out of that desire for him, we WILL seek Him, and Him above anything else in our life, and He will show Himself to us.
Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
For more study on relationship with God see articles:
Eternal Life – Relationship with God