In church this week, one lady shared her recent experience with regards to having a Kingdom-First mentality in her life. She touched on a fairly common theme; the eternal struggle to find and spend quality time with God each day, seeking his kingdom.

The story went thus; work had begun to encroach on this lady’s life. Job demands had her spending up to sixty hours each week doing overtime in order to clear her in-tray. For her, finding the time to spend time with God and seek his kingdom had become a real struggle. She found herself so exhausted that even spending ten or fifteen minutes each day reading God’s word and spending some quality time in his presence had become all but impossible.

She offered some ideas on how to overcome this. All really good advice.

I’m sure that most of the congregation could relate. I certainly could. How often do we find that career pressures and work demands sap all of our time to the point that we struggle to muster up the energy to spend even fifteen or twenty minutes of quality time each day seeking God and his kingdom.

However, it occurred to me that, even in this, we have it all wrong as believers. We spend eleven to twelve hours each day taking care of our career — and then consider it a win when we are able to commit to fifteen or twenty minutes of quiet time in God’s presence each day. And more often than not, we don’t even manage that. How low have we set the bar?

Jesus said, ‘… seek first his kingdom and his righteousness’

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:31-33

In this passage, Jesus challenges us to adopt a Kingdom-First mentality.

First means — well, FIRST!

This does not mean the first twenty minutes of our day each morning. It means first and foremost. Front and center. And Jesus knew exactly what would rob us of that Kingdom-First mentality in our lives; worry about life’s basic necessities. What we will eat, what we will drink, or what we will wear. In the modern context, this equates to our paycheck!

A job enables us to buy what we will eat, drink or wear. And once we focus on that, said job quickly consumes all of our time and energy — to the point that it dominates every aspect of our lives. That job determines what time we wake up, how we schedule our calendar each day, where we must be, what we must do and when we can stop. And whenever there is a clash of priorities, we quickly begin to make every decision around mounting work demands to ensure that, whatever else happens, we get the job done for our employers.

In fact, it is only when these all-consuming career demands begin to encroach on the last ten to twenty minutes of our time spent with God each day, that we actually begin to take any notice of the problem.

This is not a Kingdom-First mentality.

How to Build a Kingdom-First mentality.

A Kingdom-First mentality puts God’s kingdom first. Plain and simple.

This means a complete paradigm shift for many believers today. I include myself in this; I am as guilty as the next person. A Kingdom-First mentality means that God’s will and purpose for my life are front and center. In other words, his kingdom and his call on my life should drive when I wake up, how I schedule my calendar, where I must be, and what I must do on any given day. Once I have established that agenda, I can then begin to fit my work commitments around it.

This is far from easy. It requires a fundamental change in attitude towards work and how we earn our money. Think about it. When we finish school and enter the big, scary world, we need to figure out what we will eat, drink and wear. So we go out and get a job. This pays us a salary and, as long as we keep that job, what we eat drink and wear is taken care of; no need to worry. The price is our time and freedom. That job quickly soaks up all of our time and energy, leaving very little bandwidth with which to pursue the truly important things in life — like seeking God’s kingdom. Pretty soon, we find ourselves struggling to set aside ten or twenty minutes each day to spend in God’s presence.

Trouble is, the moment we lose that job, for any reason, the worry returns with a vengeance. Instead of using the time and space we now have to seek God’s kingdom in our lives, we fret. What will we eat, what will we drink and what will we wear? This drives us back to the job market in search of another paycheck.

It takes immense courage, and faith in God, to break free from this cycle. A Kingdom-First mentality is built on such faith and courage.

Now, I am not suggesting we all quit our jobs this second and embark on a romantic faith-filled journey into the great unknown. What I am suggesting is a simple practical set of steps that work towards the goal of putting God first in our lives.

Try the following as an exercise over the next few months or year

1. Begin with a simple commitment, starting now; to spend time with God for no less than ten or twenty minutes every day. In that time, seek God through prayer and Bible reading — and understand what his kingdom should look like in your own life. It might be reaching out to your local community, sharing the love of God through an online blog or YouTube channel, or taking short-term mission trips to far-flung parts of the world. It might even be some sort of full-time ministry.
2. Once you understand God’s will and purpose for your life (i.e. what he wants you to do), take action. Understand where God wants you to be , when he wants you to be there, and how much time he wants you to spend serving his kingdom each week. Grab a calendar and enter these tasks and responsibilities on the relevant days. If travel is involved, then add this too. Now you have created a calendar that is centered around a Kingdom-First mentality.
3. Next, begin to fill in your work commitments around this. For instance, if God’s kingdom requires you to travel to distant venues every Friday, then you will need a job that allows you to work Monday to Thursday, and gives you Fridays off. Alternatively, if God’s kingdom requires you to do short-term missions for the entire summer, you need a job that is prepared to offer you unpaid leave for the whole of July and August each year. Or maybe one that allows you to work remotely over the summer, with flexible hours.
4. In the event that this new work structure will earn you less money than you currently earn, you need to either find ways to reduce your current expenses or you need to seek another job that pays more while allowing you the time and freedom required for step three above.
5. Begin working towards that goal. Start managing your money, reducing your expenses, and seeking the type of job that will enable the lifestyle to which God has called you. It won’t be instant — but if you consistently make the choices that seek to put God’s kingdom first in your life, you will eventually achieve the goal.

This is a Kingdom-First mentality. When we have this mentality we truly put God’s kingdom and his righteousness first in our lives — and build the rest of our lives around that. This includes the choices we make about where and how we earn our paycheck each month.

In short, we cannot be intentional about seeking first the kingdom of God without being equally intentional about how we earn and spend our money; they are flip-sides of the same coin, according to Matthew 6:31-33.

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Genesis 3:17-19

The above passage takes us back to the very beginning; where it all started, so to speak.

The book of Genesis tells us how all humanity fell from grace and broke relationship its creator. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin entered the world — and it brought with it a consequence; the curse.

Work existed before the fall but with the fall, the curse was thorns and thistles that would make man’s work unfruitful.

Thorns and Thistles in the Modern Economy

Jesus reached back to Genesis and used thorns and thistles as a metaphor in his parable of the sower.

Still others, like seed thrown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

Mark 4:18-19

In this parable, he lists the:

• worries of this life
• deceitfulness of riches and
• desires for other things

… as the thorns and thistles that choke the word of God in our hearts and make our Kingdom work unfruitful.

All of these thorns and thistles in Jesus parable can be wrapped up in the middle-class dream in which steadfast believers face the daily grind, working 40-60 hour weeks for the 30-40 most productive years of their lives, all in pursuit of a monthly paycheck.

The worries of this life, like making rent, putting food on the table, and planning for retirement are what drive people into the office each day.

The deceitfulness of riches — that innate belief that just a little more money will alleviate all the worries of this life — is what keeps people chained to their desks, working late at the office, putting in the extra hours and constantly chasing the next salary increase or promotion.

The desires for other things like a bigger house, a flashier car, or expensive holidays and lifestyles are what make people spend every penny they earn and then incur consumer-debt to buy the things they can’t quite afford yet. No matter; the next bonus, salary increase, or promotion will cover it. This increases the worries of this life and, so, the cycle continues.

In the end, the middle-class dream becomes a middle-class nightmare from which there appears to be no escape. Ultimately, it chokes the word of God in our hearts and makes us unfruitful. And so the curse in Genesis continues to bite, as by the sweat of our brows we eat our food until we return to the dust from which we were taken.

Not a cheerful picture.

Free From the Curse of Sin

However, the Bible tells us that Jesus came to set us free from the curse of sin! This is the good news of the gospel. Primarily, this means that, through his death and resurrection, he broke the power of sin and death, purchasing our forgiveness from sin, and paving the way for us to spend eternity with God in heaven.

However, that same power can set us free from the curse of sin in this life. This enables us to shake off those thorns and thistles that choke us, and allow God’s word to become fruitful in our hearts so that we, in turn, can be fruitful in his kingdom. Through the power of his spirit, we can root out the thorns and thistles that choke our hearts once and for all. I’m not saying it will be easy — but, through Christ, all things are possible.

First, we need to learn to be content with what we have. By learning contentment, we can shake off the desires for other things. We can stop spending with abandon every time our paycheck comes in. We can sell that expensive car and buy a cheaper one for cash, thus releasing ourselves from that crippling debt. If we find that we have overextended on our mortgage, we can rent out that expensive home, and perhaps move into a smaller place for a time to alleviate the pain of covering a mortgage we struggle to pay each month. In so doing, we can reduce our expenses and, by extension, our worries in this life.

Second, we need to stop deluding ourselves with the deceitfulness of riches. Instead of looking ahead to what we need to earn in the future, why not look back at what we earned five years ago versus what we earn right now. If just a little more money was the solution to our problems, then, in theory, most of us should have no problems right now, in light of the fact that we have earned more year-on-year over time. And yet, the plight of most middle-class families is no different today than it was five years ago. Our expenses always rise to meet our income, and then some! This is the deceitfulness of riches. When we understand this, we can begin to focus on being good stewards of what we have right now rather than constantly striving for just a little more.

As we do these two things, we will find that the worries of this life evaporate and we can focus on God’s word and his kingdom. In doing this, we are set free to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33) in our lives.

As we begin to spend our money as wise stewards of God’s riches in our lives, we will find that we are less focused on our paycheck and more focused on God and his purposes. When this happens, we realize that the thorns and thistles that choked our hearts are gone!

With the thorns and thistles rooted out of our lives, we are freed from this particular aspect of sin’s curse. Rather than being choked by the worries of this life, and eating food by the sweat of our brow, we can be fruitful in God’s kingdom… and there lies freedom.

A Kingdom-focused heart will overcome the thorns and thistles in our lives and make us fruitful. However, this means we need to be intentional about how we spend the money we earn. It requires stewardship and wise management to ensure that our lives remain Kingdom-focused.

I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest — and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

Proverbs 24:30-34

Poverty Will Come Upon You Like a Thief

Many Christians in the modern age view the act of investing for capital gain as greedy. These sincere believers consider the acquisition and management of assets, like land — or a vineyard — little more than chasing after riches, which equates to the love of money.

Here is the bare truth; the writer of this proverb is hardly applauding this particular vineyard owner for being Godly. Instead, he calls this owner a sluggard, and one who has no sense.

This proverb illustrates a brutal truth. If we don’t manage our money wisely and tend our own vineyards, so to speak, poverty will come upon us like a thief.

Laziness comes in all sorts of shapes. For instance, it is quite conceivable that the sluggard in this proverb has been unable, or unwilling, to tend his vineyard because he is too busy busting his gut to earn a salary at his day-job.

Looking at my own life, I have never thought of myself as a lazy person. But here’s the rub. I often find myself so busy trying to earn a living that I simply don’t have the time or energy to tend to an investment portfolio — my vineyard. When I get home after a long, hard day at the office, the last thing I want to do is manage my stock portfolio or rental properties.

Then I am reminded of this proverb and it spurs me on. I am reminded that my ‘vineyard’ needs tending; otherwise, poverty will come upon me like a thief.