Seeking Christ

"If you seek Jesus in all things, you will surely find Jesus. And if you seek yourself, you will surely find yourself, but only to your ruin. For a man who does not seek Jesus does himself greater hurt than the whole world and all his enemies could ever do him." - Thomas A'Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

Well that puts everything on its ear, doesn't it? It is precisely 180 degrees opposite of what virtually all the world says. We essentially have two choices: we can seek after Jesus in everything, or we can seek after ourself in everything. Ourself is far more pleasing than seeking after and serving Christ.

But the reality is that in seeking ourselves - in fact, in seeking anything but Christ - we lose in the end. As A'Kempis says elsewhere, "...you must be parted from them all". Everything stays behind.

What struck me the most as I read this in the morning is the idea that in the end, we are the ones who inflict the greatest harm on ourselves by not seeking Christ, more than any other could do to us. It's a pretty long term form of harm to be sure: waiting for the whole life of an individual for the final punishment. But in the end, if we do not know and seek Christ, the harm that is inflicted on us - eternal separation from God - is truly more severe than any that our enemies could have imagined, dreamed, or schemed. And the irony of the all is that we, in the end, did it to ourselves.

So what will it be today: one more day of preparing harm for ourselves eternally (and giving the enemy of our soul happiness) or seeking Christ?