In order to get something, you have to do something… seek and you will find.
I noticed my titles are getting longer and longer because in order to get people’s attention I have to tell them what I am about to say before they become interested in reading what I am about to speak about. Like the title says, in order to get something you have to do something. Contrary to popular beliefs… goodies just don’t normally fall from the sky. If you find yourself waiting for such an occurrence then be my guest. For the rest of you, it is time to do something that will make it possible to achieve what you are desiring. A simple example is: if you want to draw water out of a well you must first dig the well or go to a place where one has already been dug. Youngsters won’t get that one. How about instead, if you want to speak on a cellphone… you first have to get hold of a cellphone.
Years ago I wrote a book called, The Seeker, A Layman’s Path to Spiritual Awakening. The entire premise of the book was to turn yourself into a magnet that would draw the things you desire to you. It is a biblical principle spoken by Christ in Matthew 7, which states: “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.” You don’t need to be a spiritual or religious person to understand this simple principle of life. Essentially it says that if you want to get something you have to do something.
If you are a parent and your child was hungry… could you sit at home and hope food show up at your front door? Although it is possible, it is not likely to happen. The parent could someone and ask for help; beg, borrow, or even steal (not recommended) but in order to get food to feed the child something has to be done. No matter what you desire you must do something that starts the ball rolling in your direction. In this new age, it appears that the notion of working for something or striving to achieve goals is optional. This is because many children being raised today are not taught this simple principle of how to prepare for the future, or how to draft a written plan for their own success.
Children seem to be staying at home longer these days. They are more dependent upon their parents for longer periods of life than previous generations. This does not apply across the board but certainly, it is a growing phenomenon. A lot of this is because the parents had to actually suffer for what they achieved so they promised that their children would not have to go through the same suffering. Although the intention is good, in the long run, it hampers a person’s development of independence. If you do not teach the children how to fish you will always need to keep preparing them a fish sandwich. If you teach them how to fish they can fix their own fish sandwich. By trying to shield our children from suffering it appears that we are delaying the suffering that will grow exponentially with time. It is like cancer that will continue to grow in the body if it is not treated. The earlier you start the treatment the better the possibility of curing and recovery. If you do nothing there is no possibility that it is within your control.
This simple principle can be used as a basic life-principle because it tends to place the beholder in a better position of acquiring their desires. This brings me to another very important factor in the equation. Even though you can wish for anything your heart desires and magnetize the elements that draw your wish into manifestation, what you wish for is just as important as wishing itself. For example, our desires should be for things that are for the common good rather than for things that would be harmful to others. If what we desire would cause others to suffer we should curve our desires to where they would not intentionally harm others. Unfortunately, the principle of asking, seeking and knocking applies to bad things as well as righteous things. People can seek the things of godly character or they can seek the things of unrighteous character. Both apply the same principle and may achieve what they seek. People do this all the time. They can likewise ask for immoral things and get them. They could knock on the wrong doors and get what is behind those doors. What you desire is just as important as desire itself.
I personally like using the fruit of the Spirit ahead of my desires rather than at the end. Here is a list of qualities that entails: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. If your desires place these characteristics between you and others it would be hard to go wrong because in achieving what you desire these characteristics would be achieved where others are involved. Now imagine if your desires were centered upon acts of a sinful nature you might imagine the outcome for others would not be positive. These would be acts such as sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like. By using such qualities you wouldn’t expect the outcome to be very positive where others are involved. Therefore what you desire and the desire itself is equally as important.
Realizing this to be true, if I wanted to acquire something and knew that I had to do something, there would be certain things that would fall on my “not-to-do list.” In other words, I would not be willing to use sexual immorality to achieve something that I desire. I would not use witchcraft; hatred, fits of rage, and the like in order to achieve what I desire. If what I desire entails the use of such acts or methods then I would have to change my desires because I wouldn’t be willing to use such methods or practices in order to get what I want to achieve. Just because you can do things doesn’t mean that you should. All things are not equal and everything comes at a price.
You would think that this is just common sense but you would also be surprised to find out that scores of people can’t make the correlation. Society caters more to the “me” generation where it is all about what’s in it for me, as opposed to how can I be of benefit to others. Looking through the lens of “me” (selfishness) you do not see or care about others as long as you achieve what you desire. Looking through the lens of “how can I be of benefit to others” you operate entirely differently. The two are not even distantly related. The question becomes, which operating system are you willing to put in operation. Would it be through using the fruit of the Spirit or would it be through using your selfish desires? In order to get something you have to do something so what are you willing to do in order to get what you desire? It makes a huge difference.
Ask and you shall be answered but be careful what you ask for; seek and you shall find but seek things that are good, decent and helpful to others; and by all means, knock of doors but not just any door because to the one who knocks the door will be opened to them. You just might not like what is behind some doors. By all means, put God at the center of your life and it will make the rest of your decisions much easier to manage. Ultimately you do have to do something in order to get something but be careful what you wish for because you might get it… Selah!
