Worth Getting to Know

Matthew 7:7 “"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Greetings,

The first time I invited my now son-in-law, Emilio, to dinner, I made a steak dinner, and I proudly served him a rare-on-the-inside but charred-on-the outside New York strip.

As we sat down to eat, all our mouths were watering, and we were in culinary heaven.  At least most of us were. Emilio, hockey puck eater that he was, preferred it if there were no blood on the plate. 

Of course, God bless his heart, he did not say anything and dug in.  In an ironic twist, I gave him the rarest morsel of all, and I recall how Rachel, Jorge, and I were all commenting on how “perfectly cooked” his steak looked.  I was so proud of myself for having given him what was clearly the best one, and then the awkward circular motion began.

I noticed that Emilio was cutting into his meat in such a way that he was shaping it like a circle.  I asked him if everything was okay, and he assured me everything was.  Maybe that was how he was taught to eat.  What do I know?  It finally occurred to me, when the steak was the size of a quarter and nothing but a bright red disc, that he was forcing himself to eat it.  I honestly felt bad, especially when we all finished before he did and were just staring at him laboriously chewing those last few bites.  To his eternal credit he ate the whole thing—all 12 oz of it.

Fast forward a few years and medium rare is the only way Emilio will enjoy a steak. Why? He discovered it tastes good.  His introduction to eating this way was uncomfortable but something about it impressed him enough to try and try again.  Think of all he would have missed out on if he hadn’t. 

Sometimes this is the way it goes in our relationship with God.  We start off slow, not sure of what it will be like.  Is He listening? Will He answer me? Will He help me? Is it worth it to keep on going?  Does He care?

But if we hang in there, if we persist, if we take a step of faith, next thing we know we will realize what an awesome, amazing, beautiful, loving, prayer-answering, mighty God we serve! The door to life will be opened to us, and we will never go back to the way things were. 

PRAYER: Dear Lord, You are worth getting to know.  You are worth our persistence.  You are the best thing that could ever happen to us, and we thank You that when we ask, seek, and knock, we receive, we find, and the doors open wide to bless us.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN~