Seek First His Kingdom

Day 26

Seek First His Kingdom

 

‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,

and all these things will be given to you as well.’

Matthew 6:33

 

There are a lot of things in this world vying for the human heart, so many calls enticing our eyes, our time, our lives… so many convincing claims calling us to give our story over to their ‘sell’.

I find it interesting that in that first garden long ago, there was Only one command from God, only one limitation, and this command began with God’s generous provision ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden’

‘And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’ Genesis 2:16-17

And this command wasn’t about the fruit itself. It was the one core command that revealed the shape of their hearts. It was about who was Lord in their hearts. About which Kingdom they belonged to: God’s or another.

They were free, wholeheartedly living in the generous abundant provision of God. And it was all good. But then they turned their gaze away from God and His one core command, the limit He’d placed, and listened to a whispering voice vying for their human hearts, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ (Genesis 3:1) calling their attention to this fruit, enticing their eyes, their time, their lives… explaining with so many convincing claims calling  them to give their story over to their ‘sell’…‘You will not certainly die,’ the snake said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ Genesis 3:4-5

And the human heart has been ground zero for the battle between darkness and light ever since; the battle between love and emptiness, between God’s Rule and human rebellion, between God’s Kingdom and the kingdoms of this broken world.

So as God in leather sandals sits here on this hillside drawing His listeners closer to the heart of God with His teachings on what life with their Heavenly father looks like, He finally circles it all down to this one core command. The one thing that is the most important point of everything. So many of His previous teachings actually all crystallise in Jesus’ catalytic command…

‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’

Matthew 6:33

Don’t listen to the dark and live in fear, reaction anxiety and grasping selfishness.  Listen to My voice and Seek God’s Kingdom first. Everything else will follow after. 

As the message translation puts it…

‘Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.’ The Message Translation

This verse has a similarly sifting affect on a human heart as Jesus’ statement ‘where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’. In fact the author of the gospel of Luke joins these passages together explicitly, with a beautiful ‘fear not’ statement in between…

‘But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

Luke 12:32-34

Seek first. Sell all. Let go! 

Jesus calls us to let go of everything else in life that is vying for our hearts, all the many calls enticing our eyes, our time, our lives. He beckons us to turn from the many convincing claims calling us to give our story over to their ‘sell’. And sell out whole heartedly instead to God’s Kingdom. Sell our possessions and give to the poor… sell all we have to ‘buy the field’ and the ‘pearl of great price’… which is His Kingdom. 

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.’

Mathew 13:44-46

There can only be one Lord on the throne of our human heart, and we can only live in one Kingdom, God’s or the world’s. 

Deitrich Bonhoeffer in ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ writes…

“Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.” 

Rather than reaching for more as Eve and Adam did all those years ago, Jesus calls us to let go of more, and reach empty handed but wholehearted for God and His ways first, putting God first, living in His Kingdom first… and trusting in Him to make everything else fall into place.

Seek first. Sell all. Let go!

Because only the empty-handed can hold the gift this Kingdom is. Priceless.  

Journaling the Journey 

Sit in silence with this passage for a while. Soak in it. Read it over again and again.

Take a moment to rewrite it in your own words.

What would it look like to rewrite your life in the light of Matthew 6:33?

 

Today’s mountainside photograph was taken in the Scottish Highlands, UK.