Day 1 - Starting Off With What Matters

​"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33, ESV).

Jesus here sets the active priority of every Christian: seek first the kingdom. Don't seek first your pleasures, don't seek first your getting ahead; seek first the kingdom. When we seek first the kingdom, we are making a declaration that the KING matters more than we do. We are saying the King dictates what I do in my life, and no one else does. 

But then He adds something at the end that's a reward for seeking first the kingdom: all these things will be added to you. What Jesus is referring to here, if you read the previous verses, is all of the things we can possibly worry about. What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? Where will we stay? All of these are things that we can spend much of our time and energy on by worrying! Believe it or not, when we worry about something, we prioritize that thing. We subconsciously seek that thing. 

The response of Jesus to the worrying and the seeking is not to say that seeking is bad, but He makes sure that we are seeking the best thing: the kingdom. The kingdom and all its priorities are what we are supposed to seek. So He commands us to do that. And somehow, in that seeking, we will not need to worry about the other things! Why? Because when we seek the King and His kingdom, we invite the King to arrange and take care of those things in our lives; we invite Him to take care of us! If He's taking care of us, there is no need to worry about what the future might bring. 

I want to end here by saying it a little differently, "Seek the kingdom first and He'll take care of the rest."  As we start off 2023 by seeking Him in this special way, in this dedication, we are starting off with what matters! We start off 2023 with what's most important in our lives: the King and His kingdom. Seek first the priorities of the kingdom, which are the priorities of the King, and all these things will be added to you. 

You're starting off 2023 in the best way! I believe in you and I am praying for you.

-Pastor Tim​