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“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt 6:33-34 NIV84) [see these verses in their context below]
Priorities
What are your priorities in life? What are your priorities for each day?
Without priorities, we tend to drift through life day by day without clarity or direction. When our priorities are not clear, we are easily distracted and drawn away from what is or ought to be important.
Priorities are what we give our attention to in preference over what is less important to us. When we don’t set our own priorities, we default to whatever else grabs our attention. This can have drastic consequences for us in a world full of distractions.
What grabs your attention first thing in the morning? Do you check your phone for the latest news and notifications or do you give thanks to the Lord?
Is your mind running full speed thinking about all your need to do or do you have a hard time getting motivated?
When our anxiety, doubts, fears, and worries press their way into our early morning thoughts, our hearts will be weighed down, wearied before we start our day in a fog of uncertainty.
If we are distracted with a maze of ideas and possibilities, we’ll get bounced around like a balloon on a windy day.
How can we avoid these scenarios?
Each of us needs to determine what our priorities are for ourselves. We need a clear sense of how to start our day, how to move forward in it, and how to rest at the end of each day.
We don’t need more self-improvement guidelines and tips. We need true and right priorities.
We need to put first things first.
Insights to consider
The beginning of this section of Jesus’ teaching focuses on true faith by prioritizing what’s most valuable to us. As mentioned before, who we believe and trust in is more important than what we believe.
These last two verses of Matthew 6 are short but pointed. The way it is written in the original language (koine Greek) puts the emphasis on what we need to seek in contrast to worrying about the needs and wants of our life.
When we worry, we seek to resolve the concerns and problems of the past and future by our own efforts. As pointed out in the two previous devotions, trust in the Lord is the antidote to worry.
Trust doesn’t resolve things but enables us to rest from our own struggle to resolve what is beyond our capacity and entrust them to the Lord.
We are to seek two specific things that will bring a resolution to what we tend to worry about. We are also to live one day at a time and not be concerned about what tomorrow might bring.
True Faith
Jesus gives two exhortations with an assurance to guide us each day. What He says is the completion of His thoughts regarding what we are not to worry about and why we don’t need to worry.
Our first priority is to seek His kingdom—our heavenly Father’s kingdom. Not the kingdom of Israel or any other earthly kingdom or realm.
Jesus redefined the nature of God’s Kingdom at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in the Beatitudes and with the metaphors of our being salt and light.
The realm of God’s Kingdom is the heart, not a human government.
In our day and age, many people look for a national government for guidance and provision during times of crisis and peace.
But Jesus reminds us to seek guidance and provision from God. He is eternal and faithful. This is why Jesus gives us the assurance that all the things we need will be given to us.
First things first. Trust in God as the one who rules your heart rather than worry.
Secondly, seek His righteousness.
Not your own righteousness nor what others think it ought to be. Righteousness is always relational with God. It’s found in a relationship of faith and trust in the Lord. Not in our efforts to be righteous.
These two pursuits are true priorities for any and every believer. Seeking God’s Kingdom and His righteousness as most important will give us a right perspective on life each day.
It’s a way to reboot our hearts and mind to what’s most important and most beneficial for a life free of worry. This frees us to live in the present moment—unburdened by what might haunt us from the past or concern us about the future.
We are to be childlike in our faith but not childish (Matt 18:2-4). Confident and content to trust in and be in a relationship with our heavenly Father.
Each day has its own struggles and trials. We don’t need to reach into what could or might be tomorrow’s trouble. Let others choose to worry about tomorrow. But we don’t need to be consumed with those worries.
Think of all the ways the Lord has already cared for and provided for you. He’s probably protected and kept you in more ways and at more times than you realize.
This is why we can rest from worry—we trust in God. Not in ourselves. Not in a government or in others.
Have you got a better way to deal with worry and the burdens and cares of the past and tomorrow? Of course not!
Seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness before you seek anything else. Let the Father care for you as the disciples saw the Lord welcome and bless the little children (Matt 19:13-15).
Our heavenly Father loves us, cares for us, and knows our needs. Trust Him!
Reflection—
We are to be childlike in our faith. Confident and content to trust in and be in a relationship with our heavenly Father. When our priorities are seeking God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, our priorities will be right and true. When we trust in God—we can find rest from our worries.
Prayer Focus—
When you find yourself caught up in worrying about anything, especially what tomorrow holds, ask the Lord to help you reorder your priorities. Choose to seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness first thing each day. Trust in Him. Rest in Him.
Devo Scripture Text
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
(Matthew 6:19-34 NIV84)