V1-3 – There are people who understand the word of God and can teach it to others but they do not practice what they know in their minds and what they teach. The Pharisees know God’s Law and they are very careful to study and teach each of its commands. But apart from that, they do not take God’s word in their heart and obey it.
This is a dangerous place to be. When you know God’s word but it is not having any impact in your life, then more can be done?
James 1:22-23 NLT – But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.
V4 – The Pharisees seem to have taken pleasure in burdening people with all these regulations which were unbearable. But they themselves did not help to make these burdens lighter. They were masters of oppression in the name of keeping the law. But they did not participate in the carrying.
In contrast, the burden we get from Jesus is not heavy, it is light. It is the burden to obey him and to love Him wholeheartedly.
Matthew 11:28-30 NLT – Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
V5-7 – The Pharisees love what comes with their rabbi position, they do not love the God they teach about. They love power, recognition, honor where people almost tremble before them. Instead of giving glory to God, they were heaping up glory for themselves.
What a dangerous place to be. When teachers, preachers, servants of God in music, ministry, and other places… love the things that come with their position rather than loving God. This is where you, kind of, become your own god, and you worship yourself. Instead of working out your salvation with fear and trembling and giving glory to God, you are blinded by what comes with your service without a genuine love for God. You become filled with pride and fail to humble before the Lord.
Do you have a vibrant personal relationship with Christ? Or any connection you have to God ends with your service? What do you prize in your heart? Knowing the Lord and walking with Him or his blessings? Our goal should be like Paul, the Apostle…
Philippians 3 NLT – I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
My goal must be to seek him, earnestly, and to love Him, because then, He comes and makes a home in me.
Psalm 105:4 NLT – Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.
“His face — the brightness of his personal character — is hidden behind the curtain of our carnal desires. This condition is always ready to overtake us. That is why we are told to “seek his presence continually.” God calls us to enjoy continual consciousness of his supreme greatness and beauty and worth.” From <https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-does-it-mean-to-seek-the-lord>
And what is the meaning of seeking Him? It is setting our minds and our hearts fully on Him.
1 Chronicles 22:19 NLT – Now seek the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.
Colossians 3:1–2 NLT – Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
I would say that seeking the Lord, therefore, is a constant never-ending pull and desire to be conscious of his presence in all we do, his love, his power, his justice and judgement and all He is, and being in communion with Him.
This involves a conscious choice to direct my heart, my thoughts on God. Every moment of every day. We do not seek Him as if He is lost, no. We seek him because our hearts and our minds are very prone to wandering away from focusing on Him. Seeking him is the battle in our minds to focus on Him continually.
It is a battle because there are very many obstacles that block us from constantly focusing on Him. Some of these include the worries of this life, entertainment and pleasure, work etc. All these, in all their good intentions, can easily become obstacles in such a way that God always feels far, yet He is not. It is in this sense that you would think as God always being hidden. He is revealed to those who are constantly seeking Him. Those who overcome these obstacles and give Him their attention constantly.
While there are truly many ways how we seek God and see him, two foundational ways that ought to be a constant for us is to seek him through His Word and to seek him through prayer.
And this is not the religious kind of prayer and reading of his word where we do it out of obligation or as a normal habit… it is seeking him in prayer with a true desire every time to meet Him. And it is reading his word and meditating upon it in order to know Him, not mere reading. It is to seek to understand what you read.
By practicing all this, I believe that our eyes also get opened to see him in many others areas. Including in other people’s lives, in creation etc.