Ancient Words For Today - 45
The above verse is from the Sermon On the Mount, delivered by Jesus to His disciples and the multitudes that gathered to see and hear Him. Jesus told them their first priority in life should be to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. He assured them that God already knew their needs and would meet them. He said they should change their primary focus from worrying about what they would eat, drink or wear, and instead use the time to seek after God, the provider of all their needs. Here is the verse in context:
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:24-34
We each need to review our life priorities: that is, the things we spend most of our time doing and seeking after. As Jesus said, our number one priority should be seeking a closer personal relationship with God, our creator, to know Him better, and living our life the right way by seeking to keep His commandments and accomplish His purpose. We can do this by reading, understanding and applying the Word of God in our life and through prayer.
As we read the Bible, the Holy Spirit of God enlightens our minds to understand the scriptures and then empowers us to apply this knowledge and wisdom in our own life. Through the scriptures, we begin to understand how awesome and all-knowing God is, how much He loves us, his plan of salvation and regeneration of the believers. We also learn about God's moral perfection and His perspective concerning what is good and profitable for us to pursue.
If we have any personal conflicts with the way God wants us to live, the Spirit of God lovingly works in us, reprogramming our desires so that we want to fulfill God's purpose for our life more than anything else:
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world Phil 2:13-14
Our second priority should be to seek God's righteousness. In other words, we are to seek to keep his commandments for living. By changing one little letter in the word living, we get the word loving. Loving is an action word and is the key to living a godly, righteous life pleasing to God. Jesus said if we love God and love others we would be fulfilling the commandments. He summed it up this way:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40
Dear Lord, help us to seek after you with all of our heart, to know you better, and empower us by your Spirit to love others in the same way that you love us and to fulfill your purpose and plan for our life. Amen.