What do you seek first?

Jesus said "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness..."

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
²⁵
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  (Matthew 6)

So, consider a typical day for you. *seek first the kingdom of God*  You wake up in the morning, you get ready for work or school, you eat breakfast, you drive, walk or ride to wherever you are going... *seek first the kingdom of God*  ... you then go through the trials and struggles of your day.  *seek first the kingdom of God*  dealing with each challenge as you have been trained (for your job) and learning as you go (job, school, etc.).  You may stop briefly throughout the day to rest, recover, take a break. *seek first the kingdom of God*  after work or school, you hang out with friends, grab dinner, go home, workout, or watch TV. *seek first the kingdom of God*   Maybe grab a late night snack before turning in? *seek first the kingdom of God* 

Take an honest assessment of your heart in what you do.  How much of your busy life is spent seeking or going after God?  You may find that most of it is focused on yourself and getting through the tasks of the day.  These things are not in themselves "bad", but can you pursue them with the right heart and mind set? - A mind set on things above -  Jesus promises us that "all these things" will be added to us if we do seek Him first.  Ask yourself: can you put more heart and effort into this seeking?  *seek first the kingdom of God* 

-atg-

Jesus ... the Gold Standard

"When He saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.  Then He began to teach them..."  Matthew 5:1-2

Have you ever thought of Jesus' sermon on the mount as setting the "gold standard" for human behavior?  In the financial world, the "gold standard" refers to a monetary system where the currency value is based on a fixed weight of gold.  This makes that currency very stable and solid as long as it is backed up by gold. 

When it comes to human behavior, who sets the standard?... who makes the rules?  It has to be based upon some standard of truth, and this is precisely what Jesus does in his "sermon on the mount" described in the book of Matthew, chapters 5 through 7.  This sermon covers nearly  every part of human endeavor and behavior, including:

• "the beatitudes" - blessings based on love and humility
• salt and light
• Christ fulfilling the law
• murder
• divorce
• adultery
• love your enemies
• giving
• praying
• possessions
• anxiety
• judging
• searching
• foundations

If you've never read the entire sermon on the mount, I encourage you to do so.  It can easily be read in a few minutes, but it has a lifetime of lessons and teachings.  If only we could take these to heart and live by them.  Consider how the world would be such a different place if we could do this...

-Andy G.

Click here to read the sermon on the mount, Matthew 5-7