Seek God First

Matthew 6:25,27,33-34

For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put o­n. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life’s span? But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Isn’t it amazing the difference between the characteristics of our Creator (in whose image we are supposed to be created) and our human nature? According to Genesis, we were created in God’s own image and designed to share communion with Him. I don’t know about you, but I find that I share the most honest and open communication with people that are like me, people that have similar goals and desires. In the same way, God created us in His image to live with us in harmony. Our sin separated us from him and severed that communion but, beyond that, growing out of the original sin came our human nature that has built up layers and walls around the “image of God” that lies within. Sin has drastically changed the face of God’s creation and, somehow through God’s grace, we are to peel away the layers we’ve been building up until we reveal our initial character, that of our Creator.

I believe some of those layers of our human nature are concerns for things of this world. This world teaches us to plan, to predict, and to coordinate our lives. From the time we are children, we come up with lists of what we want and what we “need.” Even as preschoolers, children know what they want to be when they grow up. The world also teaches us to worry. We should worry about the state of the economy, we should be concerned about the impending war with Iraq, we should always consider the instability of the world around us and plan accordingly. While all of these contemplations seem wise, I believe at the heart is self-preservation and all they are doing is building up more layers that separate us from true communion with God. God is the giver of all good gifts and He longs to be our provider. How can He provide and direct us if we have everything planned and tended to? We are told to not “be anxious for our life” as it will not add to our life span. Instead, we are to pursue God and allow Him to direct our actions. When we seek God first, “all these things shall be added to you.” We are to live today as if it is our last day to serve God and trust that tomorrow will care for itself. I think the purpose of all of this is so that we will be freed of all ties to the world so that we can fully and completely serve our Creator. Our eternal prize is not of this world, we are to be building for the kingdom.

I challenge you today to let go of your worldly concerns. God has promised to care for you and He longs for you to relinquish control and let Him give you a much better life than you could have dreamed or imagined. When we throw off our sinful nature that demands we pay attention to our worldly possessions, we experienced pure communication with our Creator and function the way He had intended, completely under His direction and provision.

Lord, please take all that I claim as my own and become more and more of my focus every day. I love you and want my life o­n this earth to be free of worldly concerns so that I may better serve you and love you.