“If in the things of this life no one can gain a great profit if he should conduct them in and indifferent and chance way, much more will this be the case in spiritual things, since they require greater attention. Therefore, Christ, when He referred the Jews to the Scriptures [John 5:39], sent them not to a mere reading, but careful and observant search, for He said not; “Keep on reading the Scriptures, but keep on searching.” (St. John Chrysostom)
“The term "religion" has been given many definitions. It derives from the Latin religio, which originally meant respect for what is sacred; later, it came to mean holding fast to conscientiousness, to the instinct that is innate in the human being and that controls, prompts, approves, reprimands, and guides the human being in his or her relations with the surrounding cosmos and with fellow human beings. The Greek term for religion is threskeia, and threskeia means instinctive awe before the cosmos, and thus worship of the divine. Threskeia derives from the verb throsko, which means to leap up in joyful expectation, to search. In this sense, every human being instinctively behaves religiously, and in a way, life itself is identified with religion, and religion is concerned with the whole life.” (Demetrios J. Constantelos)
“But if we are not in the Spirit, we must discover why not and what reason our Lord God the Holy Spirit has willed to abandon us. We must seek Him again and must go on searching until our Lord God the Holy Spirit has been found and is with us again, through His goodness. We must attack the enemies that drive us away from Him until even their dust is no more.” (St. Seraphim of Sarov)
“Christ told the Pharisees that they searched the Scriptures thinking that in them they had eternal life (John 5:39). He was essentially telling them that they were reading and studying the written lines as if somehow in doing so they could acquire perpetual existence. They were searching the Scriptures wrongly thinking that learning the right information could save them. They didn’t understand that searching the Scriptures rightly should have led them to a Person, Christ, and that Person was the one who could give them life (v40). It’s important that when we search that the focus of our search is the right focus which means Him. Then we learn our search is not so much a search, but rather a discovery of someone Who has always been there and is inviting us to Him.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
“If I don’t know God, I don’t know myself, because I am made in God’s image and likeness. I need to know God to know who I am, to have an authentic identity. Much of the contemporary search for identity is a deeper, though often unconscious, seeking for Christ within our hearts.” (Albert S. Rossi)
“A medieval Christian proverb says, “To search for God is to insult God.” This implies that God is always present and any search for Him is a refusal of this fact…Don’t search for that which is already at hand.” But we are westerners and have to search in order to learn that there is no search.” (Robert A. Johnson)
“Christ told the Pharisees that they searched the Scriptures thinking that in them they had eternal life (John 5:39). He also told them they were missing the point in that they did not believe and were not coming to Him for eternal life (John 5:38, 40). It’s important that when we search that the focus of our search is the right focus which means Him. Then we learn our search is not so much a search, but rather a discovery of someone Who has always been there.” (Sacramental Living Blog)
“So there is one God, who by the Word and Wisdom created and arranged all things. This is the Creator who has granted this world to the human race and who, as to His greatness, is unknown to all whom He has made—for no one has searched out His height, whether among the ancients who have gone to their rest or any of those who are now alive. But in His love, He is always known through Him by whose means He ordained all things.” (St. Irenaeus)
“After Jesus Christ we have no need of speculation, after the gospel no need of research.” (Tertullian)
Much of the contemporary search for identity is a deeper, though often unconscious, seeking for Christ within our hearts.” (Albert S. Rossi)