Seeking the Kingdom of God

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

I think this is one of the most popular New Testament verses. I’ve heard it quoted by both Christians and non-Christians alike. Still, I don’t think enough of us truly grasp what Jesus is saying. I know I didn’t for a long time, anyway.

I had a significant mentor in my life when Jesus and the Bible first became important to me. Matthew 6:33 was his immediate response to almost every question I would ask. However, what I would think in my mind was something completely different.

“Make sure you do something to seek the kingdom of God today. Eventually, you’re going to die, and this will matter.”

You can easily see the difference between the two. In my opinion, too many well-intentioned Christians still have the same train of thought with this verse that I did. I need to make something perfectly clear before going any further. No, I still don’t do this as I should every day. There are too many times when my heart and mind still seek selfish desires instead of the kingdom of God. I’m getting much better with it, though. I hope that writing about the verse will be part of making this even more important to me. Let’s look at the verse in its entirety before touching on three areas we have to keep in mind with what Jesus is saying.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you.”

The Kingdon of God is Here and Now

This was difficult for me to grasp for some reason. I always viewed this kingdom as a faraway place, somewhere I would go when I was dead. I looked at God’s kingdom as a location, somewhere you could find on a map.

The problem with this is Jesus wasn’t referring to a place you would go. When He mentions the kingdom of God being near in chapter one of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus refers to God’s power and authority. So when we think of the kingdom of God, our minds need to go to God’s sovereignty, rule, and authority.

The kingdom of God isn’t a place we are going to go at a later date. It is something we experience right now in our day-to-day lives. Above everything else, we look for the sovereignty of God. This is done by searching for His will in everything that we do. As long as we seek God’s will, His kingdom, He provides everything we need. These needs aren’t met later when life on earth is over. God provides everything we need today in His timing.

Action is Needed

Yes, we are saved only by what Jesus Christ accomplished through His life, death, and resurrection. Still, the Christian faith isn’t something we have. It’s something we do. There’s action required in what Jesus says here. We aren’t going to find the kingdom of God unless we go out of our way to look for it.

Also, a lesson that has been very important in my life, there’s a difference between seeking something and just giving a quick glance. My daughter gave me the perfect reminder of this the other day. She was unable to find her favorite Barbie after she got home from school.

The entire world stopped for about 15 minutes until we found what she wanted. Lil v didn’t just stand in the middle of the room looking for the missing doll. She was digging through her toy box. Victoria went through both of her Barbie houses, all of the Barbie cars, and her toy camper. She looked everywhere the Barbie could have been until she found it. My daughter didn’t just give a quick glance looking for what she wanted to find. Lil v took action. She was searching for the lost toy.

My daughter’s example is no different from how we are to seek the kingdom of God. We don’t sit around waiting for it to come to us. We have to go out of our way to find what we want. There has to be a willingness to move things around in our lives. Nothing else matters until we find the one thing that we want. God’s kingdom has to be the priority.

Placement Matters

This is another lesson that has taken me years to comprehend. I still schedule without establishing priority. I make a list every morning of everything I need to do during the day. It doesn’t matter what is crossed off of the list first. I consider the day a success if I finish everything before going to bed that night.

Jesus is pretty clear about the priority of seeking the kingdom of God. “But seek first.” First isn’t something we do for 20 minutes before going to bed every night. It’s not something reserved for Sunday mornings or when we have time to fit it into the schedule.

Also, I don’t believe this is something Jesus limits to a time of the day. I don’t think His intentions here were for us to spend an hour in prayer every morning or with our noses in a Bible. Instead, I believe Jesus is talking about everything we do throughout the day.

Regardless of what it is, first look at God’s will in the matter. Are situations and circumstances becoming difficult? Seek first the will of God, and everything you need is going to be provided.

Is there an important decision to make? How does what God wants factor into the equation? Regardless of what we are doing or what’s happening around us, our priority is turning to God. What does He want to see? How would God have us respond? It doesn’t matter what the question is. What’s important is how we answer. Are we searching for the kingdom of God before anything else?