Seek First the Kingdom

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Scripture: Matthew 6.31-33 (NLT)

31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Devotion:

            This scripture gives us a prescription for how to live the victorious Christian life. In the verses preceding this selection Jesus is listing the basics of life. Food, clothing and the like. Jesus would not have us worry about such things because he wants us to focus on the kingdom that he is ushering in. Our heavenly Father already knows our need for these things and delights in supplying them for us. Indeed, even if we suffer a lack of basic necessities of life if we keep our eyes focused on the prize of the coming kingdom, we will have all we truly need.

            How should we seek out God’s kingdom in our daily lives? First of all, we must seek it with our whole heart. We should be in constant prayer for God’s will to be revealed in and through us. We must live righteous and holy lives before a watching world. The world loves to mock Christians who fail to live up to Biblical standards. The love to point out hypocrisy in the life of believers. Therefore, we must strive to always live up to the high calling of the Christian life and when we fail (and all of us will fail sometimes) we must repent and renew our commitment to God’s way of life.

            We must not allow our minds to be consumed by worry over how we will be able to meet our daily necessities. We must depend on God’s provision for our daily need. Remember the prayer Jesus taught his disciples that says, “give us today our daily bread.” Jesus knew our need for daily provision and instructed us to pray for them. However, he did not instruct us to worry and fixate on our daily needs. Remember Jesus fed thousands with a few loaves of bread and a few fish. Surly he can provide for the needs of his followers.

            If we are engaged in God’s kingdom building work as a priority in our lives, then all these material needs will be met as well. Just what is the kingdom building work we are called to be doing? It is displaying the kingdom in our lives in the here and now. Both in speech and action we are to be ambassadors for the kingdom of God wherever we find ourselves. We are to be men and women of prayer, and good deeds. We work for the kingdom not to obtain salvation. Jesus has already done that for us. Rather we are to be loving our neighbor and even our enemies until they see that our lives truly reflect the kingdom of God.

Prayer:

            Lord make us ambassadors of your kingdom in the watching and waiting world. May our lives be so full of love that we will be known as true Christ followers. Forgive us we pray for the times we have fallen short of living a truly Christian life. May God get all the glory when we love others as Jesus loved us. We ask that we would be empowered to live kingdom lives and make that our number one priority, in Jesus' name. Amen

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