Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God
Are the things added what I want or only what He knows I need?
"Keyboard on a German mechanical Olympia typewriter" by Arnoldius is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5.
31“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
32“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:31–34 (NASB95)
Verse thirty-three above has been on my mind recently. It has ended up in two of the last three lessons by no active choice of my own. Those who don’t believe in the Holy Spirit will say it is because I’ve been thinking about it. What you look for, you will find.
“Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness.” I thought once we confessed Jesus Christ as our Savior, we were, well, saved and done. No? If you suggest there is more to do or anything to do for that matter, some people immediately jump to, “Stop preaching a works-based salvation!” I think those people don’t want to have to change anything about their lives. I think they think they don’t have anything that needs changing. Last week’s lesson had a scripture about that. In fact, it was the passage the lesson was based on (1 John 1:5-10.) You can click HERE to see last week’s lesson.
“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” I like the King James Version’s version better. That’s no surprise to anyone who knows me, and it is a subtle difference, yet I like it better. Last Sunday’s lesson has much to relate to this idea of seeking His Kingdom and righteousness. What is that not? It is not seeking our kingdom or our righteousness. What does that mean? It means His ways are better than our ways. It means where we find differences between what we think should be or be done and what God’s Word says should be or should be done; what God says is to do, is what we should do. But I’m preaching a works-based theology there, according to some.
I will be completely transparent about why Matthew 6:33 has been stuck in my mind.
My secular writing is taking off. I wanted to be a writer as a profession and get paid to do it since I was thirteen years old. My mother helped me learn how to use her typewriter, which I kid you not typed in cursive. This is an eBay auction for what I think is the exact model. I’m not sure if my mother still has it or not. I’ve also committed to continue publishing my Sunday school material and other thoughts like this one on Substack, regardless of the response. The scripture has been on my mind not because of the first part but because of the second part. I am a covetous and materialistic creature, I think.
“…and all these things shall be added unto you.” That’s the second part of verse thirty-three. As a returning prodigal son, I very much have an “If I do these things for you, you will do these things for me” attitude about my faith. Yes, that is a works-based theology. I am aware of it and working to remove it. “A HA! I TOLD YOU SO!” they will say, thinking I’m confirming their prior beliefs about what I said. What you look for, you will find.
The actual problem with my desire to quid pro quo God is this. Verse thirty-one explains what the second half of verse thirty-three outlines God will provide.
31“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
Matthew 6:31 (NASB95)
God will provide the necessities of life. Nothing more. We won’t be hungry. We won’t be thirsty, and we won’t be naked, which in my case, is a very good thing for everyone else. But here’s the thing, at least my hope anyway.
God is a generous god giving generously to His children. He doesn’t just give them the bare minimum but abundantly where circumstances warrant it. “Hi. My name is Mark, and I like stuff.” There’s my introduction to Coveters Anonymous. I’m not sure I’ll get much farther into the twelve steps than the introduction on that one, but we’ll see.
You may have noticed there hasn’t been a Monday Morning With Jesus in the last two weeks. That’s because I haven’t been in church those two Sundays. Two weeks ago, it was Camp Meeting for our church, which I have not been to and do not anticipate going to in the future. Last Sunday, I had a situation that forced me to leave.
“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” I’ve been toying with a Wednesday post along the lines of the Hot Topics posts and devotions. A number of years ago, my mentor at our church hosted an hour of scripture and discussion tied to the headlines from the week prior. He asked me to stand in for him several times, and I really enjoyed it. It is where I got the category title for some of the things posted here. I’ve put this one under that banner too. I’ll pray about it and see if this is an aspect of my “seeking” that I need to attend to or not.
Have a great rest of your week. God bless you, and Godspeed.