“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” This statement is found in the Bible in Matthew 6:33. Jesus was just finishing up the Sermon on the Mount. This teaching on anxiety is between as statement that a person cannot serve God and money at the same time and a statement on rightly judging. The teaching on anxiety is found in Matthew 6:25-34. It is the largest block of teaching in the sermon on the mount. Jesus gives this teaching building on the previous teachings. If you are serving God and not the things of this world, and if you are doing things for God, and not for the praise of this world, then do not be anxious for your life.
The people that Jesus was talking to were poor. Not poor by today’s standard but dirt poor. Those who worked got paid every day. That daily pay was used to buy food for that day. When that food was gone, there was no more until they worked the next day. Most people had one or two pieces of clothing that would be patched and stitched together because they could not afford anything new. Jesus says that it is wrong to be anxious for what you will eat or drink today or what you will wear when your cloths wear out. Jesus point to the birds who are fed and taken care of by God and to the lilies of the field that are clothed in greater splendor than Solomon.
Jesus concludes this teaching by telling his audience, and us, to seek God’s kingdom first and seek his righteousness first. We do this because God knows what we need and God will take care of us, in his ways, in his time and being anxious is not trusting God.
So if we seek God’s kingdom first, what are we saying? When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” That is seeking God’s kingdom. What we are praying is that God’s perfect rule in heaven, where everything is holy and God is in charge, we are praying that we want that on earth. And how can that happen? If we seek God’s rule in our lives. If I am actively seeking God’s authority and God’s desires and God’s plan and God’s righteousness in my life, every day, then God’s kingdom will come, at least in my life.
And if I am putting God first, then I am checking with him before I do anything, before I start any project, before I go anywhere. I am making sure that my actions, my words and my thoughts reflect God’s authority in my life. I want to make sure, at the end of the day, I can say that lived with God as my king today.
Stephen Covey, the time management, productivity guru teaches a values based management system. Every person decides on their compass which shows what is important for them in various areas of life. Then whatever we choose to do must fit into and be supported by that compass, otherwise we are heading in the wrong direction. The top of Stephen Covey’s compass is “Seek first the Kingdom of God” and he asks the question as he is planning his day, “Does this item seek God’s kingdom?” And chooses what to do and how to spend his time based on this compass direction.
The average Christian may not codify this compass as completely as Covey, but we all need to be aware of what God wants by being students of the Bible, being in church and being in Bible study. We then need to make choices, not based on the whims of chance or whatever feels good, but on things that keep us going in the direction of serving God our king, every day of our lives. Seek God’s kingdom and his righteous.
#Thoughts on Seeking God’s Kingdom#
The people that Jesus was talking to were poor. Not poor by today’s standard but dirt poor. Those who worked got paid every day. That daily pay was used to buy food for that day. When that food was gone, there was no more until they worked the next day. Most people had one or two pieces of clothing that would be patched and stitched together because they could not afford anything new. Jesus says that it is wrong to be anxious for what you will eat or drink today or what you will wear when your cloths wear out. Jesus point to the birds who are fed and taken care of by God and to the lilies of the field that are clothed in greater splendor than Solomon.
So if we seek God’s kingdom first, what are we saying? When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” That is seeking God’s kingdom. What we are praying is that God’s perfect rule in heaven, where everything is holy and God is in charge, we are praying that we want that on earth. And how can that happen? If we seek God’s rule in our lives. If I am actively seeking God’s authority and God’s desires and God’s plan and God’s righteousness in my life, every day, then God’s kingdom will come, at least in my life.
And if I am putting God first, then I am checking with him before I do anything, before I start any project, before I go anywhere. I am making sure that my actions, my words and my thoughts reflect God’s authority in my life. I want to make sure, at the end of the day, I can say that lived with God as my king today.
Stephen Covey, the time management, productivity guru teaches a values based management system. Every person decides on their compass which shows what is important for them in various areas of life. Then whatever we choose to do must fit into and be supported by that compass, otherwise we are heading in the wrong direction. The top of Stephen Covey’s compass is “Seek first the Kingdom of God” and he asks the question as he is planning his day, “Does this item seek God’s kingdom?” And chooses what to do and how to spend his time based on this compass direction.
The average Christian may not codify this compass as completely as Covey, but we all need to be aware of what God wants by being students of the Bible, being in church and being in Bible study. We then need to make choices, not based on the whims of chance or whatever feels good, but on things that keep us going in the direction of serving God our king, every day of our lives. Seek God’s kingdom and his righteous.
#Thoughts on Seeking God’s Kingdom#
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