Seek First
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
Seek First. It’s really very simple. Before we do anything, anything at all, we are to turn our eyes to Jesus and look for his activity, his whereabouts, his way of doing things. Before we walk into a meeting. Before we get out of bed. Before we respond to our kids’ latest outburst. Before we sit down to go over the budget. Before we eat a meal, go on a date, begin a project, have a conversation, ask for forgiveness, go on a hike… Before we do anything, we are to seek Jesus first.
Why don’t we? Personally, it’s easier if I just flow through my day under my own strength and direction and power. It’s easier if I just work my tail off to get things done, even in the name of Jesus, making my own decisions and what seems best to me.
Yes, as we walk with Jesus our hearts and minds should look more and more like Christ’s, and we should have more heavenly wisdom working in and through us because we have been practicing the way of Jesus for an extended amount of time, and yes, these things do happen. But I haven’t experienced enough of that “over-time-transformation” in myself (or anyone else for that matter) to justify NOT seeking first before all things. I’ve never seen anyone get to a point where they are so Christlike that they don’t need to turn their hearts and minds to Jesus as often as humanly possible. Actually, anyone I’ve ever met or read about who could be considered the most Christlike among us are the ones who constantly and deliberately turn their attention to Jesus.
It’s like if you were to try to uncoil an incredibly strong spring. You might get it to move a little, and it might even begin to straighten out under the force of your strength, but as soon as you let go it returns to its original coil, every time. That’s you and me and the sin nature that we were born with. Don’t get me wrong, when Jesus saves someone through faith, they are eternally saved and he’s got them covered by his blood. But we still wrestle with that sin nature every day, and if we are not applying direct force to our souls every day, we will continuously spring back to our original bent towards sin and self-destruction. We must seek first, all day, every day.
Almost always, when challenged with something like this in Scripture, I immediately think of how I can apply it and practically live it out. And thinking of seeking first, I thought of my schedule, of reminders on my phone, of things written on the wall or even my skin to remind me to seek Jesus first at all moments of the day. But as I am writing this, I am growing increasingly convinced that one of the best and most important things that you and I could do to practically live this out is to do it together.
A pastor at my church recently revealed some truth about our resolve. He called out what we sometimes refer to as our “iron will” and the confidence that we have in our ability to change ourselves and accomplish things. But he called it a false confidence, saying that “iron will” is more like aluminum foil. He could not have been more right. How many times have we had New Year’s Resolutions that we forgot about by the end of January? How many times have we claimed we would never do that again, whatever “that” is for you? How many times have we wanted to do something positive and healthy for our spiritual life and been conveniently distracted by anything and everything around us?
But what if, instead of relying on our “aluminum foil will,” we worked together to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?
What if, when someone asked us to pray for something, we in turn asked them if they had sought Jesus yet? And if they hadn’t, then we sought Jesus together, right then and there, and prayed together for wisdom and God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done in the situation?
What if, at the start of the day, we texted each other to remind each other to seek Jesus first?
What if we reached out to each other and confessed when we really didn’t want to, or when we hadn’t sought Jesus first? What those friends then sought Jesus for you and with you?
And what if we DID do all of the things that would help us remember to seek first, but we did them together? Created art or graphics that we could keep in our homes, cars, offices, wallets that reminded us to seek first? Set reminders together to seek first? Looked at and prayed over and invited Jesus into our schedules together?
It might not result in an iron will, but several sheets of aluminum foil is definitely stronger than one.
The entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) seems to be an invitation to togetherness. We are all in the same sinking boat of sin, no one is perfect. We are all supposed to pray in the same way. We are all supposed to grow in faith in God’s provision. We are all supposed to work together to repair broken relationships and strive for unity. And while I think this can be done to an admirable degree on our own, I can’t help but see Jesus inviting us into a new level of faith and relationship with him, one that can only be lived in if we depend on each other.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33