“Seek first His kingdom and His
righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
Jesus taught His Sermon on the Mount to a multitude of
people. Some were Jews, others were seekers, and some were His disciples. Jesus
began this part of His sermon the way He ended it, with a command. He began the
first command on a negative note. Jesus ending command was positive.
Jesus said in verse one, “Beware of practicing your
righteousness before men to be noticed by them.” He put people on notice not to
do something in verse one. Jesus taught the people not to do things to “be
noticed,” to receive honor, prestige, and glory. If you aim to do good things,
those good deeds are ideas from God and He should receive the glory, not you.
When you give to the poor, no one besides the person who you helped, God, and
yourself should know. Jesus said the same thing about praying. You should not
pray so people will notice you, but instead pray to God for Him to notice you, and
to develop your relationship with Him. Prayer is about building your
relationship with God and staying in a close relationship with Him. If you pray
so others will see you and give you honor and praise, that will be your only
reward. You get what you wanted-honor and glory. Your intention for prayer would
not be for God to hear you, for you to hear from Him, and to have a deeper
relationship with Him, but for people to recognize how “devout” you are. This
desire for honor and glory is not righteous. Taking the honor and glory steals
from God and makes you unrighteous.
What happens, though, when you pray so people will see or
hear you or when you do good works so people see you doing them, the deeds God initiated
in your heart? When you do these things to receive honor for yourself, the
focus of your heart has changed from God to yourself. Instead of living a “top-down”
life, that is acknowledging God and His will as primary in your life, you live
an upside-down life with your will being primary in your thoughts, words, and
actions. This leaves God to be secondary or non-existent in your life. The
latter is of what Jesus told His hearers to “beware.” If you live an upside-down
life, then your honor and glory, and your desires are primary motivators in
your life. But, as Jesus pointed out in this chapter, you will end up worried
and concerned about daily life things such as clothing, food, and drink. You
might receive honor for yourself, but you end up worrying how you will provide for
yourself and your family, basic things of life. You will have excluded God from
your life and trust in Him that He will provide all your needs is nonexistent.
Why does this happen? It happens because God is not primary;
He is not Lord of your life. When God is primary in your life, you can pray as
Jesus taught in verses nine through thirteen. You reverence God and acknowledge
He is the true God, and He is holy, not you. You seek His kingdom, His reign
and wisdom, to come rule over earth just as it is in heaven. You desire God’s
reign in your own life, too. For this to occur, you recognize only God is
righteous and makes people righteous. In being made righteous by God, you want
and sometimes must apply discipline to seek a growing relationship with Him.
Your growing relationship with God teaches you that God will always take care
of your needs. Just as He beautifully clothes relatively small, inconsequential
creations like birds and the lilies of the field, He will clothe you, a human
made in His image. As long as you stay in a relationship with God, Jesus said,
you need not worry about what your body needs.
Jesus basically said to stay in a “top-down” relationship
with God as primary in your life. With God at the head of your life, you
recognize Him as God and King over you. You receive your righteousness from Him
and acknowledge He is Lord. Your main goal in your connection with God who
gives you righteousness is to stay in a growing relationship with Him. When you
choose as the main thing in your life to have a growing relationship with God,
then all other things fall into place. God remains King of your life, you give
Him honor and glory, He provides everything you need, and your love for Him
deepens so you obey Him.
This is what Jesus
meant in verse thirty-three when He told His followers, “Seek first His kingdom
and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” Jesus
emphasized this point for a second time in this chapter. At the beginning of
the chapter, He spoke about it in a negative format using the command “beware.”
At the end of this chapter, Jesus used the positive command “seek.” “Beware” of
doing this (seeking your own glory) and, instead, “seek” for God is what He
told His hearers. What did Jesus mean when He told the people to seek God’s
kingdom?
Our primary task as Christians is to stay in relationship
with the God of our salvation and righteousness. That should remain our focus.
Being in a close relationship with Him means we will obey Him when He tells us
to do good, pray, fast, visit the sick, teach, preach, or any other thing He
commands us to do. Our obedience shows our love for God. When we seek a growing
relationship with God so that our will is to obey Him, that is “seeking first
His kingdom.” Because we seek God, He will provide for all our needs. We will not
put our glory or honor first and seek to provide for ourselves what we think we
need. Instead, we seek God first. Instead we give God the glory. Instead we let
God take care of us.
As Jesus said, we cannot serve two masters-God and our own self.
We will end up hating one and loving the other. Instead of trying to make
yourself master of your life and ending up worrying how you will give all your
family needs, pay your bills, or bring your prodigal home, let God be Master of
your life. Let Him provide for you. Let Him bring your prodigal home. Let Him
be your Lord and Savior, your King. Anything you give yourself and family will be
destroyed, rust, or rot. God gives what you need, and it will last forever.
Instead, do as Jesus taught and don’t worry.
“Seek first His [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these
things will be added to you.” [NASB]
Lord, please forgive
me for trying to rule my own life. You’ve been patient and watched me as I
tried and fumbled. Lord, I recognize You as my Savior and King. Please forgive
me and take control of my life. Help me grow in my relationship with You each
day. Give me the burning desire to seek You daily. Use me for whatever you
want. Lead me in your ways. May You receive all the honor and glory. Provide everything
I need. Help me not to worry but give all my cares to You. I am taking my hands
off the steering wheel of my life, Lord. I give its control to You. Thank you
for being King and ruling with unconditional love and wisdom. Amen.
