TUESDAY, JANUARY 10
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33
SEEK FIRST
Matthew 6:33 records the words of Jesus from his “Sermon on the Mount,” where he teaches his disciples how to live in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus challenges the disciples to SEEK first. In the original greek language, this command to seek is a Present Imperative. Which means that we are to Continually, habitually follow this command! The Present Imperative is often a call to a long-term commitment and calls for the attitude or action to be one’s continual way of life. This command is not a one time action; it is a call to a WAY OF LIFE. This “seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness” is a LIFESTYLE.
Not only are we commanded to seek in that present imperative, but Jesus qualifies our seeking. We are to seek FIRST. This seeking after the Kingdom is meant to be our PRIORITY as followers of Jesus.
In our cultural moment, the idea of a priority has changed. This is what Greg McKeown, the author of Essentialism, wrote
“The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years.
Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality. Somehow we would now be able to have multiple “first” things.
People and companies routinely try to do just that. One leader told me of this experience in a company that talked of “Pri-1, Pri-2, Pri-3, Pri-4, and Pri-5.” This gave the impression of many things being the priority but actually meant nothing was.
So when we hear Jesus say, SEEK FIRST. He is calling us to make this our SINGULAR MISSION. This is our priority. Now this does not mean that we quit our jobs and only go to church and pray. It means that in our jobs we seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, that in our families we seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, that in our friendships we seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Maybe think about it this way: God is not on top of our priority list…He is the paper on which we write our priority list. His Kingdom frames everything that we do in this life!
As we balance the tensions of this life, may we be a people who SEEK FIRST the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.
Prayer
Our Father,
Thank you for your Word. We pray that by your Spirit, Matthew 6:33 would change us into the likeness of Christ. Help us to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. May we not prioritize our lives around worldly things. We acknowledge you as the creator and sustainer of our lives. Father, we pray this now through The Son, and By the Spirit. Amen.
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