Steep Myself

Steep means to ‘devote (oneself) fully to’. To immerse, plunge, soak up oneself in something.

In The Message translation of Matthew 6:33, Paul tells us to, “Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” Just before this, Paul also said, he was trying to get the people to relax, “to not be so preoccupied with getting, so that you can respond to God’s giving.”

I’ve honestly never seen it in this way. At a glance, I always thought that my getting = God’s giving. You know what I mean? Because I get what I ask for, it means that God is giving.

But Paul helped me to understand something that I got wrong here. What happens if I don’t get what I want? Does that mean that God stops giving?

He doesn’t! God gives because He loves. He doesn’t give because He owes it to us or because He has to. He doesn’t! But we focus so much on getting what we want that when it doesn’t happen, we blame Him for not giving. God has given already so much more than we asked. For instance, if I was asking for a partner because I was feeling lonely in life and God doesn’t seem to be answering. When each time I get together with someone, it ends up not going well and we break up. Then maybe the it isn’t that I wanted a partner to settle down with, but because I wanted companions. God could have provided a loving family and patient friends who would always gather round and love me. But because I was preoccupied in finding a partner that I’ve neglected them and cause them to respond to hurt, therefore, becoming distant and “disinterested” in my life.

Takeaway
God doesn’t give because I get, He gives because He sees the deeper needs of my life. And only when I focus on what He gives freely, that I will experience who He is.