Seek First the Kingdom

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

What runs your mind? What causes your heart to pound firm and fast against your chest? Where do your thoughts drift to? In every season of need, in little and in plenty, let us center our thoughts, meditations, minds, and hearts on God, his word, his works, and his ways, and bank on the promise of Matthew 6:33.

If you want to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, you cannot seek first your phone when you rise in the morning. Seriously, what do you seek when you roll over and bury yourself in a screen? You begin your day from a position of anxiety.

If you want to seek first the kingdom, you simply cannot afford to do that. You cannot seek anger first. You cannot seek vengeance first. You cannot seek the things that you desire first. You cannot seek yourself first. That is the core of Christianity. Deny yourself (Luke 9:23) and consider others more significant than yourself (Philippians 2:3-4). Die and live. Seek first the kingdom and these things will be added unto you.

It is clear and it is ultimate and it is a conditional promise. Perhaps we find more clarity if we re-write it “if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things will be added to you.” If you want “these things” – security over the outcome of your life, food, drink, and clothing – get free from them as you set your mind and your face towards him (Colossians 3:2). “These things” will not come from us, nor will our own efforts with gritted teeth and clenched fists and tensed muscle draw us any nearer to our true desires.

To my relief, the entirety of Matthew 6 clearly bestows the role of provider onto God and the role of receiver onto us. To seek yourself and your own desires first is to trust more fully, completely, and finally in yourself, rather than the LORD, as the one from whom all things flow. What an exhausting and taxing burden to load onto yourself – to expect that which you cannot deliver!

If we find ourselves inhibited as we aim to seek him first, we must eliminate all of our other desired “firsts” from the equation. If you eye causes you to sin, cut it out (Matthew 5:29). Nothing compares to the sweetness of receiving what you truly need from God. No one, not even yourself, keeps promises to you like the God of the universe.