Rejoice: Matthew 7:7-8

Matthew 7:7-8 (NRSV)

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Don't just ask...

Rejoice because everyone who asks receives and everyone who searches finds.

Really?

Yes. Really.

This text can be viewed any of ways. It can be seen as a gift.

Or, a curse.

Because, we have to wonder, what happens if we don't get what we ask for? What happens if we don't find what we are searching for?

Why rejoice then?

It's important I think as we wait this Advent to remember that the gift we are waiting for - that babe in a manger - was not the gift we expected.

The King was not a soldier. Or a power-broker.

The King was vulnerable and small.

So God reminds us to always be asking. Always be searching.

Because in the journey itself we find more than we were looking for to begin with. On their album, the Joshua Tree, U2 sang lyrics that are well known now: "I still haven't found what I'm looking for."

Yet in that same song, Bono admits "I have climbed the highest mountains, I have run through the fields, only to be with you."

That in the end is the gift. And sometimes, we don't even realize we were looking for it until our life is changed.

Lord, I believe in the Kingdom Come,then all the colors will bleed into one..Bleed into one. But yes, I'm still running.* And you alone can find me and bring me home. Amen.

* Lyrics by CLAYTON, ADAM / EVANS, DAVE / HEWSON, PAUL DAVID / MULLEN, LARRY / REINA, VICTOR

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Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group