"ALL YOUR HEART!"

Jeremiah 29:12-14                         (ESV)

"12 Then you will call upon ME and come and pray to ME, and I will hear you.

13 You will SEEK ME and FIND ME, when you seek ME with "ALL YOUR HEART".

14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile."

It seems everyone has heard about the childhood game called hide and seek.  When I was a child, I never was very good at the game because I didn't have the determination to SEEK someone until I FOUND them.  Giving up always seemed to be the option that was available, and it required little or no effort.  However, when ALMIGHTY GOD "calls" you, the desire to FIND HIM consumed me until I FOUND HIM!  

We don't even have the longing to search for HIM unless He places that in our hearts.  In Acts 9 Saul was persecuting Believers in the name of "the church"!  However, when JESUS inquired "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Saul recognized his need for a Savior and it was revealed to him ".......how much he must suffer for the sake of MY name."  That's right, unlike many modern "ministers", Saul (soon to be renamed Paul) was promised by JESUS that HE would suffer the the sake of HIS Name!  But still, he sought JESUS with "ALL YOUR HEART"!  

The LORD promises in HIS Word that HE can be found if we ONLY will seek after HIM with "ALL YOUR HEART"..  But HE also says in John 15:16 "You did not choose ME, but I chose you and appointed you......"!  GOD desires a relationship with us so much that HE sacrificed HIS ONLY SON to redeem us from our sinful lives.  What else do I have to offer HIM but to SERVE HIM with "ALL YOUR HEART"???