seek first, then

Matthew 6:33

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (NKJV)


 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (NLT)


What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. (ERV)


But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides. (Amplified)


Set your heart on the kingdom and his goodness, and all these things will come to you as a matter of course. (J. B. Phillips)


Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you too. (The Voice)


Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. (The Message)



I can't seem to get away from Matthew 6:25-34.

I read chapter 7 today, because that's what I was supposed to do.

I just can't seem to get away from those last 9 verses of chapter 6.

Maybe God is trying to get me to trust Him more, because that's basically what worry is...

     ...a significant lack of trust in Him & that He'll be & do what He says He'll be & do.

Or maybe He's trying to get me to chill about the future?

The bottom line truth here is one I've seen worked out in my life before & in the lives of  others...

   ...if we spend the balance of our time trying to get into a closer, more intimate, more transparent relationship with Him, all the rest of our lives seem to take care of themselves.


Now, trust me on this - whenever anyone reminds me of this, I want to throw my hands up in exasperation.

I know, I know - it makes no sense, especially since I've personally experienced the true of this verse!

But I get frustrated because I'm usually trying to work things out on my own.

And that's because I want things to work out like I want them to work out.


(Did I just say that out loud?!)


Well, there you have it - the butt naked truth of the matter.

I'm more in control if I'm spending more time on making things happen than getting closer to Him & trusting Him to take care of things...

     ...because the way He might work things out is not necessarily the way I want things to totally work out.


(Did I say that out loud, too?!)


The hilarious thing about all this is that LOTS of times if I'm talking to someone who griping & complaining about wanting things to work out, & how do they make that happen, & what should they do, & they're so confused, guess what I end up telling them?


"As crazy as it sounds, it you just spend more time getting closer to Him, all those things have a way of working themselves out."


Yes, I see that statement for me is more of a "do what I say, not what I do" kinda thing.

Yeah, I'm a hypocrite - put it on my name tag.


Maybe I could just take it one day at a time & try to be more like I suggest others be during that day, maybe I could develop a habit of thinking that way...