Seeking First Things First

"but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you" matthew 6:33

this verse expounds the secret of how to live the christian life well.

inherent in the verse is a very wonderful and glorious promise.

we need not be anxious about the legitimate necessities of life (food, drink, clothing)--they are legitimate and "your Heavenly Father knows that you need them" (v.32).

but the verse states, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness". seek His reign and His righteouness FIRST and all the other necessary things will be added.

in our heart of hearts, what are we seeking? are we seeking the very same "other" things that the pagans run after?

the following quote i thought was an excellent exposition about "seeking God's righteousness". it is from a preacher named ray pritchard. it is well worth reading:

"This week I read about a man who looked at his life and concluded that he was just like the Professor on Gilligan’s Island. 'The Professor knew how to turn banana peels into diesel fuel and he could take algae and make chocolate fudge, but he never got around to fixing that hole in the boat so he could get off the island. Same as me. I spent my life learning to do amazing things that didn’t matter, and I ignored the hole in my boat. And that’s why I’m stuck where I am.'

If you want righteousness, you can have it. Let me go out on a limb and make a bold statement. Whatever righteous thing you desire in the spiritual realm, you can have if you want it badly enough. I don’t think we appreciate the importance of that truth.

Most of us are about as close to God now as we want to be. We have about as much joy as we want, about as much peace as we want. Abraham Lincoln said that “most people are about as happy as they want to be.” Totally true. We are the way we are because that’s the way we want to be. Either we’re happy that way or we’ve accepted that this is who we are and we’re not going to change.

For the most part, you are where you are right now because that’s where you want to be. If you were hungry for something better from God, you could have it....

What we seek, we find. This is true in every area and realm of life. Unless we seek, we will not find. And what we seek, for good or for ill, we eventually find."

most christians, i guess, most especially myself, do not live the christian life well because we seek and value the lesser things.

but if we could just learn to seek God's kingship and righteousness first, all the "lesser" things will be added.

this argument from the lesser to the greater is foolproof and is reiterated by the apostle paul: "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all--how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" (romans 8:32).

i end this blog with another quote that gets to the heart of the matter:

"if we give top priority to those pursuits which should have low priority, if we ‘major in minors,’ if we show a ‘first-rate dedication to second-rate causes,’ if we allow friends and impulse and the convenience of the moment to dictate our priorities, while we weakly drift with the tide of daily circumstances, we will be shabby, mediocre, and ineffective persons.” –from The Disciplined Life by Richard S. Taylor

may God give us grace to seek His kingdom and righteousness first. not only would we then live the christian life "well", but we would be able to properly enjoy the "lesser" things without all the anxiety that normally accompanies the attainment of them.