“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6:33
Jesus is telling us here in Matthew 6 not to worry. Instead, He gives us very simple instructions. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and what you need will be given to you. Seek Him, see Him. Let’s dive in.
Seek first
Jesus was intentional when he put “seek first” as the first words in the whole statement. Before anything else gets in the way, he puts plainly before us that seeking is what we are called to do FIRST. Before anything else, before the anxious thoughts creep in, and before we start trying to work it all out ourselves, Jesus interrupts us with “seek first”. Seek first. When troubles come, when we get in an argument and we want to lash back, when we get an awesome opportunity, or when we get held back, SEEK FIRST. Not second, not third, and not last- first. Make it a habit, that, when you start to worry or feel emotions rising, to seek first.
Seek: attempt or desire to obtain or achieve (something).
What is it we are attempting and desiring to obtain? Jesus gives us the answer: His kingdom and His righteousness.
His kingdom
What does it mean to “seek his kingdom”… Well, Jesus gives us an example of that just a few verses earlier in v 9-10.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be(holy is) your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10
Jesus says that seeking his kingdom means desiring to obtain heaven and His will on earth. When we are seeking his kingdom, it means we recognize we aren’t citizens of this fallen, broken world. But are instead citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And just like we have cultures in our world, heaven has a culture. Seeking his kingdom means chasing after the culture of heaven and working to live it out here on earth.
What is the culture of heaven? It’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So Jesus says seek FIRST his kingdom. This means to seek all these things first before you jump to conclusions. Before you worry about how life is going to work out. Before you worry about if you got into the school or if you got the job. Seek love first, seek peace first, etc… Seek his kingdom first to see it here on earth.
His righteousness
Seek FIRST his kingdom and his righteousness. What does seeking his righteousness look like?
Righteousness: “morally good; acting within divine or moral law; free from guilt or sin”
To seek God’s own righteousness is to, well… seek Him. He is the divine law, He is the freedom from guilt and sin, and He is righteous. That simply is His being. Morally good. Not corrupt or capable of doing wrong. He is free from sin, which also means He cannot sin against you. But how in the world could we seek (desire to obtain) His righteousness if sin is in our nature? We will never be morally perfect or sinless until we meet with Jesus. But Paul says in Romans
“Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1 (CEB)
For us, i.e. those who aren’t God, our form of righteousness is to be made right with God. Our sin separates us from God, and so by God’s mercy He forgives us and by His grace He sustains us. Making us right whenever we call on Him, ask for forgiveness, and repent. And because we are made in His image, when we are made right with God, we start to reflect Him. Which means our lives then start to match His character.
“Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” Exodus 34:6
So “seek first…His righteousness” has 2 fold meaning. 1. Seeking his righteousness is seeking God himself. And 2. Seeking to be righteous like Him. Only God can make us right with himself (righteous), and it’s through Jesus’ sacrifice that this is done.
Given to you
Seek Him, see Him. This last phrase is a promise you and I can lean on every day of our lives. He says when you simply seek Him, He will provide every single thing you need. Seek Him first, and the rest will fall into place. Another translation says “these things will be added to you.”. We don’t have to strive and make every right decision. Instead, Jesus simply asks us to keep our eyes on Him. When you are worried and when you’re satisfied, seek Him. Look to Him, search Him, and He will do the rest. He will guide, protect, and prosper you. Trust Him and His word because God is righteous. Incapable of sinning, incapable of going back on His word. Wholly and completely trustworthy.
Seek Him, see Him.
See my previous devotional on Philippians 2:12 here! Want to learn more about the righteousness and holiness of God? Check out this video by Bible Project explaining God’s holiness.
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