Seek Ye First

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you ! So said Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount (Mt.6:33).  This well known excerpt from this prominent message is one of many in that address which turned and still turns our thinking absolutely on its head and forces us to think about how we think and act.  And what and where our priorities truly are.

Yesterday I spoke with a young lady I had given the gospel to a few weeks before and she was telling me she has gotten engaged. So I asked her when the wedding is and she said they have to do a few things first, all of which have to do with things. The big thing she said is they must buy a house before then. As we talked further I couldn’t help but think how relevant the Lord’s point in that sermon still is.  If you recall the context of Christ’s remarks, He was dealing with how we tend to worry about stuff and how that He cares for the birds and in fact all of creation and our mental energy should not be focused so much on what we will eat or wear, etc but we should live a life that truly puts Him first and fixate on being obedient to and trusting of Him.

Yet there is this tendency in us all to elevate things above Him and worry. Or the consuming desire to seek and obtain the latest and greatest “toy” thinking that once its secured we’ll be set and happiness will be ours at last.  Yet maybe you are not so easily fooled, you know that things don’t cut the mustard in life. So you are really trying to keep God first, excellent if so ! But don’t ever think your priorities can’t regress into what the Lord was referring to in His great sermon. It may not be things so much that can become “king” over you, it could be something else: a reputation (where you’re willing to compromise your integrity just to look good in people’s eyes), a career (where you are willing to forgo your spiritual obligations to advance your position at work; a job can become an idol as much as a new car or fancy toy), a relationship (where you are willing to spurn the will of God to satisfy your own will in some way with that person).

Oh, we can easily get things out of whack in our lives hence why Jesus made this the point He did. But the wonderful antidote to it all is simply keeping Him first place in your heart !!  That starts by making sure you have truly been saved, then following Him in whatever His Word would say to do in view of your situation.  Following His Word and so His will, step by step, moment by moment. When you do He’ll take care of the rest and then you needn’t worry about a thing !!