In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
I have spent a lot of time thinking about this one simple verse. The more I think about it, I think this pretty much sums up all of the teachings of the Bible. When I started reading the Bible again with this verse in mind, much of the New Testament seems to be restating this same principle and taking some time to go a little deeper with the concept. The core of all problems in our world throughout all time is from us human beings putting our own selfish desires first and doing what we can to make ourselves look good. I know this is true in my life. When I find myself getting frustrated or angry, or when I start to feel anxious, it is almost always because something in my life is not going the way I want. I’m not able to buy or do something that I want. Someone is not treating me with the respect that I deserve. Other people are not doing what I think they should be doing, or something in my life is holding me back and keeping me from doing what I want.
Then we struggle with trying to find happiness and figure out what went wrong in our life. Too often God is relegated to our spare time and “I’ll start reading the Bible when I have the time.” Everything else in life is more pressing. The upcoming test or the deadline at work. At home, there is the leaky faucet, the lawn, and twenty other projects that need to be done around the house by the end of the week. And, of course, all the baseball and soccer games, dance, gymnastics, band, and multiple other kids events we are struggling to figure out how everyone is going to get where they need to be, and hopefully on time.
Once we get all the projects and activities figured out, then we start thinking about our finances and how we are going to get everything paid for. And as soon as you get that figured out, the car breaks down, or the dishwasher goes out, or any number of other unexpected near catastrophes enter our life, and our brains begin to focus on our problems and trying to figure out how we are going to pay for everything. Our lives are full of distractions. Everywhere we look and everywhere we go there are countless distractions waiting for us around the corner. John Comer in “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” says the number one thief of joy in our society is distraction. I would take that a little bit further and say that the number one thief of joy is being distracted from Jesus and not seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
True joy, true peace, and true happiness only comes from a relationship with God. I want to spend some time looking at what it means to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” To get a better understanding of this verse, let’s go back a bit to gain some understanding of the context in which this verse is set. This teaching comes in the middle of what is known as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. As you read through these passages, read with the “Matthew 6:33 Filter” in mind and see how each passage has the same underlying teaching.
Matthew 5-7 are some of the first recorded teachings of Jesus. Sometimes we get caught up in trying to “go deep” with our studies and we forget the simple basics. Our foundation has to be solid before we can build on it. I’m looking forward to going through this study and hearing your thoughts.
