By seeking the Kingdom first, Jesus tells us to seek Him, to seek God first in our life. He, in turn, will provide for our needs. As Lord and Creator, he wants to help provide what you need as well as guide how you use what He provides. The Kingdom is a place that is close to God, close to Jesus. It is a place where God desires us to be. In this next look at what Jesus says about the kingdom of heaven/the kingdom of God, we will look at the same story as told in Matthew 6:25-34 and Luke 12:22-31. Let’s look first at the Gospel of Matthew. This is Jesus speaking, in what to many, will be a very well known lesson of Scripture about worrying.:
Matthew 6:25-34 (TNIV)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Luke the physician also shares the same story in the Gospel he wrote (Luke 12:22-34) :
Luke 12:22-34 (TNIV)
22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?
26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
As I look at both these teachings from beginning to end, Jesus tells us “do not worry”, He was not saying not to have a complete lack of concern or not to work to supply our needs. The focus of this Scripture rather is to trust in God and seek Him above seeking these things. Jesus, I believe, is focusing on where our priority in life should be. I like very much what the Life Application Study Commentary says about worry:
“Worry presents us with the dual temptation to distrust God and to substitute fear for practical action. Worry means paying attention to what we cannot change instead of putting our energies to work in effective ways. Jesus made it clear that worry takes away from life rather than adding anything to it. We can counteract worry by doing what we can and trusting where we can’t. When we work for God and wait on his timing, we won’t have time to worry. When we seek first to honor God as king and conform our lives to his righteousness, worry will always finds us otherwise occupied.”
As I look back at my life I see a couple of things. First I see that as a child (I would note that we are all children of God no matter what our age is), my parents fed me and cared for my needs. This allowed me to focus on the right things in my life, learning, growing…….if I spent that time worrying, I would not have been able to DO. I trusted each day that I would be fed and clothed by my parents. Is it not the same way with God? All that we have ultimately comes from God’s hand.
Again, here, I believe, Jesus is talking about PRIORITIES. We should seek Him first, seek his teaching, follow Him, and He will take care of our needs. Many peoples PRIORITIES are comfort, money, fashion and security……..but I have seen in my life when my priority is my relationship with God, when I speak with Him every day, seek his will for my life through the Scriptures, when I obey by helping and loving those around me (my friends as well as people I don’t know), that God provides these needs. He has not let me down. Seeking God, seeking Jesus calls for loyalty and commitment. I found that those periods in my life when I set a PRIORITY of seeking “things”, objects, goals, money, position…that I was always left wanting. However, as I learned to TRUST and seek God in my life as a PRIORITY………God took care of these things in my life. When Jesus’ followers seek His kingdom first, God takes care of their needs!
I ask myself, what about those starving, those people in life who are hurting, who are hungry, who have little? The answer that keeps coming back to me is that Jesus is not teaching that no one will go hungry, but there are opportunities for me to follow Him and feed, listen, and provide, and love. What Jesus is teaching is that we should channel our energies and direct our efforts to God’s eternal purposes. In doing so, He will provide.
I have found that when I started spending more time serving people in our church and in our community…. and less time worrying about my bank account…that God provided. When I spent more time serving the elderly, by loving them, and providing a listening ear, a smile and a warm hug…..and less time worrying about my mortgage…….God provided. When I spent more time getting to know God, indeed Jesus, by talking with Him through prayer, through seeking His words from the Bible in my heart…..He took care of those other things in my life….. my children’s college, my job, and more. On the other hand…..when I worried about all these things………I was always left wanting and needing more. Am I saying that I have no struggles? No! But what I am saying is that I have few “worries”. My needs are met and I am happy with what I have. Do I want more…yes (I am human), do I need more…..not always……does God provide more……He has in my life. Most of all…….remember the PRIORITY, the focus.
In Luke 12:33, Jesus tells us, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” This is sometimes hard for people to understand. I would say–look closely–Jesus doesn’t tell us to sell ALL our possessions. I believe Jesus is telling us where our treasures are. They aren’t in material things, they are in spiritual things and relationships. I do indeed believe that if a person realizes this and has been “hoarding” wealth, that one should turn around and help others with what one has until they no longer look to wealth in materials as the treasure, but look to God as the provider.
I found this additional advice in the Life Application Bible Commentary helpful in understanding these Scriptures:
“One of the best ways to avoid dealing with today’s challenges and difficulties is to get wrapped up in tomorrow’s. It seems easier to worry about what might not happen in the future than to deal with what is happening in the present! Tomorrow may require plans and forethought, but not worry. Today requires work and trust. Worry immobilizes us today and reveals a lack of trust in God’s ability to hold tomorrow and preserve us. Jesus left no doubt that troubles of one kind or another will be part of the daily routine. But he also described those troubles as ‘enough’ for each day. Can we not also trust God to provide whatever we need for the day? When we worry about tomorrow, we misuse the strength God has provided for today. We need to take ‘one day at a time’ in our relationship with God.”
What do these Scriptures say about the Kingdom of God? By seeking the Kingdom first, Jesus tells us to seek Him, to seek God first in our life. He, in turn, will provide for our needs. As Lord and Creator, he wants to help provide what you need as well as guide how you use what He provides.
Here are some practical examples of seeking God’s Kingdom first:
— Simply trust in God. This trust is expressed by praying to him rather than worrying.
— Use the gifts God has provided you to help others:
— Give piano lessons, guitar lessons or voice lessons to those who haven’t the money but have the heart and want to learn. Loving and nurturing those relationships.
— Work with the youth in your church or elsewhere by helping them in a band, encouraging them in serving God, encouraging their efforts at school…..
— Be a friend and a listening ear to those around you.
— Do a short term mission trip.
— Seek God’s love and wisdom through His Words to us in the Bible.
— Volunteer a portion of your time to feed the homeless.
— Volunteer a portion of your time to help women find alternatives to abortion.
— Find believer’s whom you can pray for and will pray for you.
— Use your vacation time for education or a mission trip rather than pleasure.
— Adopt a child overseas or right in your home town by providing food and education.
— Give to a homeless person whom God puts in your path.
— Visit people in the hospital just offering a smile, a hug, a prayer or a card of care and concern.
— Entertain the elderly, the shut in’s, the disabled and those people society often “forgets”.
— Share with others the blessing of doing these things, of knowing Jesus personally, and making God a PRIORITY in your life.
There are a ton of ways you can be Jesus with skin on. You don’t have to do them all….just make this attitude and action a part of your life.
Today’s CLUE: By seeking the Kingdom first, Jesus tells us to seek Him, to seek God first in our life. He, in turn, will provide for our needs. As Lord and Creator, he wants to help provide what you need as well as guide how you use what He provides. The Kingdom is a place that is close to God, close to Jesus. It is a place where God desires us to be.