He Cares for You, Part 6

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Matthew 6:33

Hmm, so what does God want us to seek? You see, we’re naturally given in our sin to be

concerned, nay consumed, with the things of this world. What we’re not naturally given to is

to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Notice that He says, seek first. He is

saying to seek it preemptively over those other concerns. Now if you’re like me, that’s not

often really the focus of my heart, and unfortunately it shows in how I approach Him.

I can ask God all day long for money, for health, for stuff of all sorts and never really give

two seconds to thinking about His kingdom and His righteousness in my life. Undoubtedly, I

start to treat Him more like a genie on command who isn’t doing His job rather than the God

of the universe who not only is my Father and Friend, but my Master as well.

I’ve heard plenty of people in church talk about Heaven, and it’s often the same gravitational

force within their hopes. No more tears, no more pain, seeing loved ones, having a

mansion, maybe a banquet meal, enjoying the good life forever. Maybe Fido’s there, too.

Rarely do I hear about anticipating worshipping God in His unveiled presence, seeing Christ

firsthand and glorifying Him forevermore. It’s often to some degree a continuation of the

desires of this world carried over, and unfortunately, the reason people imagine these ways

with a marginalized Savior is because…that’s how they relate to Him already.

Jesus says to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness, and all those things you worry

about, they’ll be taken care of. Not maybe according to your grandiose plans, but according

to God’s determinations. Again, it’s not about not asking God about things you care about,

but within this passage, it is deeply assessing what it is that you care most about. If God’s

not up there on the list, if serving Him and obeying Him and following Him just don’t really

have a spot, there’s a problem, and it’s not those worries you carry, but those areas you

ought to be worried about that you don’t, like worrying about being closer to Him and more

useful to Him. Perhaps you are seeing through this series that anxiety can be a byproduct of

misplaced emphases in one’s life. For many who would call themselves Christians and

confess their hope in Heaven, all too often God and His glory very well may be something

that never fully crosses their minds. It doesn’t take precedence in my life to any degree that

it should, and that’s the problem.

Maybe God allows stressful stuff into our lives sometimes like warning lights on a car to

bring us back to fixing those things we ought to be most concerned about: Him and His will.

It’s not simply that we worry, but really, why is it that we worry so much about what we tend

to worry about? God loves us, and cares for us. He loves us just the way we are, but loves

us too much to leave us that way. He wants better for you and me. The Gospel isn’t just about saving us from Hell and saving us to Heaven, but about saving us from ourselves. We

need His grace.

Be blessed.

Sam Stringer