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 “Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.”  -1 Chronicles 16:11-13

   Those that know me know I am an avid shark tooth hunter. For over 30 years I have spent hours of vacation time combing the sand for the elusive tooth. In that time, I have found numerous teeth along with shells, crabs, starfish, sand dollars, glasses, and trash. This year I found my first dollar floating in with the tide. Instantly God gave me a message. How I was able to be at that precise moment to find that dollar was no coincidence. Several decisions led to us finding what we are looking for.

   I would like to parallel the story of finding sharks teeth with our search for Jesus. This is the question at the beginning of the day we must answer. Every day we are given an opportunity to choose the path we will follow. To answer this question, I would like to pose three others that will determine the obvious answer to this one.

  First, I need a desire to look for teeth. No one need say before my vacation, “Be sure and look for some shark’s teeth while your there!” I have a desire to do it just as we all must have a desire to seek the Lord. Do we have a desire to be like Christ? Moses was content to dwell in Midian. That is a problem for most Christians. We become content to live the level of relationship we have with the Lord at salvation and are less driven to pursue a deeper walk with Him. Just as a marriage is doomed without growing together and communicating, our relationship with Christ is contingent on our desire to know Him more. We must be willing to leave the nets as Peter did and follow the One who holds our eternity.

  Second, I must look in the right place. I have noticed the Gulf is a difficult area to find shark’s teeth, but the east coast is a great place to find them. Are we looking in the right direction? Adam and Eve ran straight to the tree they were forbidden to eat of to see the fruit and believed the lies of Satan as he spoke through the serpent. Had they continued to develop their walk with God the temptation to eat of the tree would be less likely to pull them away. The more we run with the wrong crowd the more apt we are to become like them. Joash was influenced by those around him, good or bad, and we are no different. The priest helped lead his young life to revive the Temple and later the impact of the princes led to Joash killing the son of his mentor the priest.

  Third, am I putting in the time to find the big teeth? As I said, it’s 30 years and counting. Along the way I found one large tooth and I believe the consistency paid off.

 Will we put in the time in our walk with Christ? Any relationship worth having will require an investment. A healthy relationship demands time and energy to make it work. God has and continues to invest His time to us; how much are we committing to Him? Ezra prepared himself to seek the Lord and teach His commandments to the people in Jerusalem. He put in the time to build his relationship with God so he could minister to his people. Daniel prayed not just once a week but daily. He knew the importance of his relationship with God.

   Do you have a desire? Are you looking in the right direction? Will you put in the time? If your answer to these is yes, then on one side you are on your way to jars full of trophy shark’s teeth, but more importantly you have a heart that seeks Jesus. If your answer is no, you can change that today and now. Settle what needs to be done to get back on track in your walk with Christ.