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The Daily Devotional
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Seeking First: A Lenten Priority Check
“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” — Matthew 7:7
Introduction
Welcome to the Thursday of the First Week of Lent. By now, the Ash Wednesday ashes have washed away, and the initial enthusiasm of our Lenten resolutions might be meeting the friction of daily reality. We are standing in the spiritual equivalent of early March garden beds: the ground is still hard, perhaps even frozen, and the air is chill.
Lent is a season of returning, reordering, and refocusing. It is like walking out into that frozen garden, not to harvest a quick crop, but to watch and wait for the first subtle signs of life pushing through the frost. It requires a shift in how we see the world. We are used to moving fast and getting what we want instantly. But in this season, we are invited to slow down, to look beneath the surface, and to ask ourselves what we are truly searching for in the landscape of our lives.
Reflection
There is a specific, frantic energy that takes over when you lose something essential—your keys, your wallet, or your phone.
Imagine the scene: You are already running five minutes late. You grab your coat, reach for your keys, and grasp only air. Immediately, the world shifts. Your heart rate spikes. You begin to search. At first, you are logical, checking the usual bowl by the door. Then, you become desperate. You are checking coat pockets you haven't worn in months; you are looking under sofa cushions; you are retracing your steps with the intensity of a detective.
In that moment of panic, what is your top priority in life?
It isn’t the email you need to send. It isn’t the weather. It isn’t your long-term career goals or your reputation. In that moment, your entire universe has narrowed down to one singular object. You are "seeking and asking" with every fiber of your being. You are knocking on every door of your memory. You are single-minded.
Jesus uses this active, persistent language in Matthew 7:7—Ask, Search, Knock. But the critical question Lent poses to us is not if we are seeking, but what we are seeking with such intensity.
In Luke 6, the Gospel reading often paired with this week, Jesus stands on a level place and looks into the eyes of the crowd. He speaks of Blessings and Woes. He warns those who are "full now" and those who are "laughing now." It is a hard teaching.
What is your number one goal?
For many of us, if we are honest, our "lost keys"—the things we scramble for, worry about, and prioritize above all else—are things like financial security, the approval of our peers, physical comfort, or a trouble-free life.
Jesus is not condemning us for having a savings account, enjoying a good meal, or loving our families. He is not saying that laughter is bad. Rather, He is warning us against a life where these things are the ceiling of our existence. If we are satisfied merely with being full and comfortable, we stop seeking God. We stop knocking on the door of the Kingdom because we are too busy decorating the foyer of our earthly lives.
Christ’s own priority was not comfort; it was love. It was redemption. He did not seek to be "full"; He emptied Himself.
Repentance, in this Lenten season, is more than just feeling bad about our sins. It is a reorientation. It is realizing we have been frantically tearing apart the house looking for worldly approval while the God of the Universe waits for us to simply ask for His presence. It is turning our desperate, searching energy away from temporary things and toward the only One who can truly satisfy the hunger in our souls.
We are called to be like the gardener watching the frozen ground. We are seeking signs of spring—signs of God’s grace—knowing that if we ask for Him, He will not give us a stone. He will give us Himself.
Application
To move from "frantic seeking" to "faithful seeking," we need to pause and calibrate our compass. Today, I invite you to practice a simple "Priority Reset" using a variation of the Examen prayer.
At the end of your day, or during a quiet lunch break, sit in silence for two minutes. Then, ask yourself these three questions:
1. The Audit: What was the one thing I thought about, worried about, or chased the most today? (Be honest—was it work, a relationship, a purchase, or God?)
2. The Ask: What did I avoid asking God for today because I was trying to handle it on my own?
3. The Knock: What "door" of opportunity to show mercy or patience did God place in front of me, and did I knock on it or walk past it?
Write down your answers. Do not judge them; simply name them. Then, hand them over to God.
Conclusion
The promise of today’s Scripture is one of the most hopeful in the entire Bible. Jesus does not say, "Ask, and maybe, if you're good enough, you might get a response." He says, “Ask, and it will be given you.”
The tragedy of our lives is often not that we ask too much of God, but that we ask for too little. We ask for comfort when He wants to give us character. We ask for a reprieve when He wants to give us a resurrection.
This Lent, let us reorder our loves. Let us stop searching frantically for keys that only open temporary doors. Instead, let us knock on the door of the Kingdom. The Father is listening. The latch is unlocked. He is ready to open the door.
Prayer
Gracious and attentive Father, we confess that our hearts are often crowded with lesser loves. We scramble after security, approval, and comfort, treating these gifts as if they were the Giver. Forgive us for the times we have sought to be full of the world rather than full of Your Spirit. In this season of Lent, reorder our priorities. Teach us to ask for what truly matters, to search for Your face in the frozen grounds of our daily lives, and to knock with the confidence of beloved children. May we find our top priority in Your love, which is the only thing that endures. In the name of Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Amen.
Devotional by: Kenny Sallee, ThM — Deming, NM, USA
The Bible texts are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible, copyright © 1989, 1993, the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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