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What Happens When You Seek First the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)

Hidden Nuggets Series #97 – “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” – Matthew 6:33

When your eyes crack open in the morning what is it you seek? What is the first thing on your mind?

seek first the kingdom of GodIf you are like me it’s probably the last thing you thought about the night before. Sleep never seems to wash away what we are passionate about. It’s always there the next day, front and center in our mind.

However, the answer to the question will reveal your priorities.

So many things vie for priority #1 in our lives that sometimes it’s a struggle to keep them in perspective. What seems important one day fades into the rearview mirror the next. New challenges, opportunities and attractions replace the old, and so on and on goes the cycle.

In the Bible, Jesus addressed our focus on priorities one day in a discussion about worry. Evidently some around him were fretting over what they might eat and drink and over what clothes they might wear. Not fretting like how you or I might have trouble deciding between steak and chicken for dinner or what to wear on any given Sunday to church. Theirs was a literal concern over not having any food or clothing as basic necessities of life, a dire circumstance to be in for sure.

As only Jesus could, he brought clarity to what they should seek first each day. As we’ll see the benefits received from putting his suggestion priority #1 actually spoke to their most pressing daily needs.

Seek First the Kingdom of God

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus told his followers and those listening in the crowd to,

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”

The “all these things” reference addresses the things they were worried about…their life, food, drink, clothing, etc. All very relevant issues to the people of the day that were front and center in their minds the moment they woke up.

For most of us those basic necessities are not what we focus on each day. They are a given, available whenever we need them.

Our challenge is all the other things that crowd their way into our life that we place before our relationship with God. School, work, family, sports, financial status…you name it and we’ve got a pension for giving God second place – or worse.

In themselves none of those things are inherently bad. But that’s why it’s easy for them to take control of our lives. We see the good in them, think it’s the way to happiness and peace and end up giving them a higher priority than they deserve.

Then we wonder why things don’t work out the way we planned…why we worry all the time…why things seem to be so much out of our control.

What if we chose to seek after God first…if we committed each day to match his character…promoted his agenda? What might our lives look like then?

All These Things Shall Be Added Unto You

God never promises a life of ease. He doesn’t guarantee freedom from sickness or death. He won’t keep us from personal trials and he never vowed to make us all rich.

What he does commit to is meeting our daily needs…to being the one we can depend on…to being in control of all that goes on around us. That’s the point Jesus was trying to get across to his audience. We can trust God and don’t need to worry because he knows what we need more so than we do.

Our needs (plus all that other good stuff we desire) will be met when we choose to seek first the kingdom of God. Make your relationship with God priority #1 and he will add to you exactly what you need.

Questions: Are you placing anything over your relationship with God? Do you think God cares enough to meet your daily needs? If so, how has he met your needs recently? What are you doing to seek first the kingdom of God?

Image by gerlos at Flickr Creative Commons

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Comments

  1. Julie Detrick says

    Morning from Iowa, I was asking the question in my heart concerning Matthew 6:33, what things will be added if I seek the Kingdom of God first. Of coarse I knew the answer but still felt the need to know how to explain it to a non believer. Your article was so good! Thank you. Blessing, Julie Detrick. P.S I wonder if I can have your permission to share it with others.

  2. As I have traveled the road of 21 years of pain and great difficulty sleeping, I have drawn closer and closer to God and He has comforted me and helped me press on to complete the servanthood God put me on earth to complete. There’s is always someone in worse condition than ourselves that we can reach out to, comfort and love. And Jesus calls us to spread the Good News far and wide. Terri

    • “There’s is always someone in worse condition than ourselves…” This is so true. If we open our eyes, it’s easy to see people in our circle who need our love and comfort. Sadly, we are often too focused on ourselves to see these people that needs us. We are missing so many chances to minister and serve.

  3. Jayson @ Monster Piggy Bank says

    I can do all my commitments by knowing God is with me. And, it feels good to seek first the kingdom of God and trust him because I know what he offers is beneficial to me, Brian.

  4. Thanks a lot for this one Luke, I truly love this! When everything was falling apart, I really wanted to give up, but I told myself that everything will be fine, I know God has a plan.

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