Seek the Kingdom of God

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?  "And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!  "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'  "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Matthew 6:25-34 NASU

We have a prosperous culture that has somehow misheard, misread, or misinterpreted this passage of scripture. What I think we hear is Let God bless us to the point we are overflowing, then we can build the Kingdom of God. Once we have all the stuff, we can start giving it to those in need, and they will join us in the Kingdom. It is true we can't give what we don't have. But that is not what I am talking about.

We are to seek God's will and not our own. We are to place everything we do in the light of righteousness to see if it is indeed God and His Kingdom or our Kingdom of want.

All our decisions should be centered in the Kingdom, loving God, and loving people. We are to make it right if we do anything that causes division and leaves someone on offense. But if we aren't considering how our everyday decisions affect the people around us and the Kingdom of God, we aren't seeking the Kingdom first. We are seeking us first.

If we aren't seeking the Kingdom first, we are also adding to ourselves and not waiting on God to increase. When God gives the increase, it is humbling, a feeling of being underserved but thankful. Adding our increase makes us feel entitled, well-deserved, and not humble.

We don't want to seek the daily bread that Jesus promises us. We seek the whole loaf for the entire week. We are worried that we won't have enough for tomorrow. We reason with ourselves when we see people in lack and say I will help when I get more. In essence, we are caring for today, tomorrow, and the weeks to come but not seeking the Kingdom of God first