Kingdom Ready Blog

Matthew 6:25-34 – “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

The word seek means to “do what is necessary to receive the desire end.” When your puppy runs away, what does your seeking of him look like? You drive around town, put up signs, call your neighbors and check in with your town’s animal control office. You do what you need to do so that you can get the puppy.

What about the seeking first of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? What does this look like? Contextually we see that we shouldn’t be seeking the things that the people of this age are seeking after. So does that mean we don’t have jobs or clothing or food and jut wait for God to drop something down from heaven? It seems clear that God is willing to take care of these issue that we would normally be seeking after if we instead make our seeking objectives His Kingdom and His righteousness. This verse is quoted often (many times mis-quoted as “seek God first” or “seek first God” but Jesus’ Kingdom focus here seems pretty clear) but what exactly is he commanding his disciples to do?

• What does it look like to seek the Kingdom of God?
• What does it look like to seek God’s righteousness?
• What does it mean to seek these things first?