A well-known passage in Matthew 7—”Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”—opens up a deep well that can lead to either wisdom or misdirection.
The misdirection comes when we simply think of this passage as the Bible saying that God will give us that new house, new car, or new bling (do the cool kids still say “bling”?) that we want—all we have to do is ask.
Let’s put it bluntly: Jesus Christ did not die on the cross to make you rich—at least not materially. Yes, Jesus goes on to say that God wants us to have nice things—and in abundance. Think of the wealth that is at our disposal every day through nature, and how much richer we would be if we took care of our natural world as God intended.
It’s all in what we ask for. We can ask for a bunch of stuff, and we just might end up with a bunch of stuff, but none of the joy that gives our life meaning. Or we can ask for the capacity to love better, share more joy with others, to make the world around us and the lives that touch us better.
Consider that Jesus ends the “ask, seek, knock” message with this: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” In the end, it’s not about me alone, but it is about how I become part of a virtuous circle of love from God flowing through me to others and back to God. The things I possess can either help or hinder that flow.
So be careful what you ask for. The best things to ask for are the things that will enable us to love God, love others and love ourselves better. This is the law.