Seeking Direction: A Journey Toward God's Kingdom

"There's an episode in the story of Alice in Wonderland. If you recall that Alice is traveling by herself and she comes down a path, and she comes to a fork in the road, and as she comes to this fork in the road, she's completely bewildered. She doesn't know whether to go to the left or to go to the right. And while she standing there trying to figure out which fork she's supposed to take, her attention is drawn up to the tree, and she notices the Cheshire Cat sitting up in the tree with his diabolical grin." [00:00:08]

"If we have no destination fixed in our minds, what possible difference can it be which way we go. You know, one of the central concerns in modern business, and particularly when we experience economic crises, depressions and recessions and that sort of thing, is the question of focus. In our day, management by objective, people like Peter Drucker and the rest, has become the order of the times. And, the business leaders are told again and again that if you are going to be successful in whatever endeavor you're engaged, you must have clearly defined goals." [00:01:26]

"The Christian faith is complicated. The Bible is a thick book. It's filled with admonitions, instructions and directions for the pursuit of happiness, for relief from guilt, for praise, for worship, for adoration, for all of these things. But sometimes, there's so much there in the forest, so many trees, I should say, that we miss the forest. And, people come to me again and again, and they'll say something like this, 'R.C., what's the big idea? What really is the big idea? What is that one, that single overarching issue that God wants each one of us to pursue?'" [00:10:27]

"In the last in the Old Testament, the question was raised by the prophet Micah, you remember, 'What does the Lord require of me?' You said you want a simple answer. You want a bottom line. What does the Lord require of you? 'But to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.' That's what the life of godliness is about in a nutshell. To do justly, what does that mean? That means simply, that a Christian is a person whose life is supposed to be characterized by an earnest pursuit of doing what is right." [00:11:59]

"And it is expressed by Jesus, when Jesus reduces all the activity and the requirements of Christianity to its bare minimum by saying this, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things,' that is, everything else, 'will be added unto you.' Seek first. Alright, let's look at that. Two words I want you to see here. 'Seek,' and then, the word, 'first.' Dorothy said, 'I'm trying to find the wizard, but in order to get to the wizard I have to find him first, and in order to find him, I have to pursue him.'" [00:14:52]

"No, ladies and gentlemen, the beginning of seeking the kingdom of God is at our conversion. That's when we start seeking God. And when Jesus is saying, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,' He's not saying, He's not speaking to pagans, who hopefully at the end of their pursuit, at the end of their quest, they will discover Christ and be converted. No. No, no, no. This is the priority of the Christian life. The priority of the Christian life is to seek, to seek. We are seekers." [00:16:29]

"Think of the way Jesus expressed the kingdom of God in the parables. He said, 'The kingdom of God is like a coin that is lost by an impoverished woman.' He doesn't tell the story of a fabulously wealthy miser who mislays one coin, who wouldn't even miss that coin. But all of this woman's wealth is contained in one tiny coin, and she loses it. 'What does she do?' says Jesus. 'She turns the house upside down. She sweeps every nook, every cranny. She searches under the bed, in the cupboard, under the clothes, any place that she can find, because she's not going to stop this pursuit until she finds what she's looking for.'" [00:17:19]

"In the 16th century, Luther tried to reduce all of the Christian life to one single idea. The big idea, according to Luther, was that the Christian is called to live all of life, Coram Deo. This was the theme of Luther's quest. If somebody would've looked at the life of Martin Luther, and said, 'Luther, what is your purpose statement for your organization? What is the purpose statement for your life? What is that one idea that you have learned?' And Luther would've said, 'My one idea, is Coram Deo.'" [00:21:22]

"Coram Deo means, 'before the face of God,' or, 'in the presence of God.' Luther said, 'You know what I want? I want to see the face of God.' Isn't that the highest vocation, the greatest desire and the most marvelous promise that God gives in sacred Scripture, where He says that the ultimate goal of human existence will be fulfilled in what is called in theology, the beatific vision. The beatific vision, is a vision of blessedness. It is the vision that carries with it, and instantly communicates the deepest possible level of fulfillment to the human heart, the fullest expression and satisfaction of the soul of a human being." [00:23:11]

"That's what we live for ladies and gentlemen. And that's what Luther was getting at when he said that all of life is to be lived Coram Deo, before the face of God. Now, that had two sides to it. On the one hand, it means being motivated by a desire to see the face of God, but all the while we are pursuing and seeking after the face of God, we realize that everything that we do is visible to Him. He may not be visible to us, but we are certainly visible to Him." [00:26:12]

"I love that story because for me, that simple legend of Robin Hood captures the essence of the Christian life, because as we seek the kingdom of God first, we know that our King is absent. He has gone away on a sacred mission, and when He went, He did not abandon His authority. Indeed, he is the just King of this nation, but those who are loyal to Him become outcasts and are forced to live in the woods and in the forests of this culture. But yet they band together as happy people, delighting in singing their praises to their King, and living for the day when their King will return." [00:42:40]

"That's the big idea, to live Coram Deo, to seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and everything else will be added unto you." [00:44:12]