keep on...

“Keep on asking, 

and you will receive what you ask for. 

Keep on seeking, 

and you will find. 

Keep on knocking, 

and the door will be opened to you.  

For everyone who asks, 

receives. 

Everyone who seeks, 

finds. 

And to everyone who knocks, 

the door will be opened. 

Matthew 7:7-8



This is Jesus speaking toward the end of what we call The Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew, chapter 5 - 7.


For some time now, I've come to believe the operative words in those 2 verses are "keep on".

Often quit looks good to us, but instead of quitting we need to continue moving ahead.

Someone I know who can be a real truth teller once said that we can never get out of a valley in our lives by sitting down - we have to keep moving forward to walk out of the valley.

I believe that Jesus seems to say here we need to keep our hope intact, to keep pursuing whatever it is we feel directed & compelled to explore.

And this is particularly hard to do when none of our life makes any sense, when obeying & following seems futile, & life only gets harder.


But in verse 8 Jesus gives the kicker - if we keep on, the thing(s) we are pursuing, or working toward, or looking for, all of these things will materialize.

That's hard to believe when we're in the middle of a situation, but easy to believe when we're on the other side, when we've come through a challenge, direction, or desire.


(I hope this is making sense - at this hour sometimes I wonder if I make sense at all! ;-) LOL)


So when you see the comment, "keep on..." in my social media, or in a text, or in a blog, I thinking of these words of Jesus & the encouragement He gave us 2000+ years ago when He spoke them.