Fascinating Truth – How to Seek God’s Kingdom First

³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:31-33

This well-known Bible passage is often used in the context of money – and rightly so. But what does it really mean?

For many Christians, a natural tendency applies this scripture as follows. ‘Stop dabbling in the pursuit of wealth. Life is not all about money. Investment, passive income, capital gains… that’s all just worrying about money! Rather, seek first the kingdom of God.’

The unspoken message in this rhetoric is this. ‘Look at me. I don’t worry about money; I don’t spend my days and nights chasing after filthy riches. I have a secure job with pension plan and that is enough for me.’

To which I ask; how is this seeking God’s kingdom?

The truth is this; too many Christians in the modern age overcome financial anxiety by cocooning themselves in job security. This is not a solution to the core spiritual problem.

We don’t cling to job security as a way to overcome our financial anxiety. Rather, we do it because of our financial anxiety.

In other words, having a job does not cure our worry about what we will eat or what we will wear. Instead, because we worry , we cling to job security at all costs.

Usually the cost is lost time with our families and those we care about the most. We also feel the impact in our relationship with God and lost opportunities to share the gospel.

In short, all too often, job security comes at the cost of seeking God’s kingdom first.

What Does Seek First the Kingdom of God Mean?

Paraphrasing Matthew Poole’s commentary on this passage ‘seek first the kingdom of God’ means our primary care and study should center on how to get to heaven, and how to promote God’s kingdom in this world. It means subjecting our hearts to the will of God, so that the kingdom of God may be within us. And it means spending our time and energy bringing others to the obedience of faith (i.e. sharing the gospel).

In order to ‘seek first the Kingdom of God’, we need to overcome the worries and cares of this world; what we will eat or drink and what we will wear. Clinging to job security is a distraction from that goal – not the means of attaining it.

Practical Steps to Putting God First

Before we get ahead of ourselves, I’m not suggesting that everyone quit their jobs tomorrow and embark on full-time ministry. What I am suggesting is that we pause and ask ourselves, ‘What should God’s Kingdom look like in my own life?’

When we know the answer to that question, we can begin to shape our lives around that ideal – and we need to do this above all else! This is how we ‘seek first the kingdom of God’.

Other helpful questions might include:

• What would I do for God’s kingdom if I didn’t have to spend every waking moment working to pay my bills?
• Who are the people I most want to share the gospel with?
• How can I find more time or energy to spend reading God’s word and praying each day?

The answers will be different for everybody. After all, God has a unique plan for each of our lives. Once we understand what the Kingdom of God should look like in our own life, we need to have a plan.

Our plan should list the changes and choices we need to make in order to bring God’s kingdom to bear in our lives. It should include some goals and dates by which we aim to achieve those objectives.

This might include reducing our living expenses or creating a second stream of income that makes you less reliant on your current job. Or it might mean switching to a new job that is less demanding and closer to home, allowing you to spend more time with the people you care about.

It might mean switching to a four-day week so that you have more time to spend with your children or to spend in a morning Bible study at your local church.

It could mean investing in a rental property which produces enough income for you to take an extra week or or two of unpaid leave from your job each year so that you can do that annual mission trip to Africa that you know God has placed on your heart.

Or it might mean a wholesale change in your life that includes quitting your job and going into full-time ministry of some sort.

Whatever it means to you, I urge you to ‘seek first his kingdom’ with all your heart. Don’t let something as fleeting as job security rob you of God’s plan for your life!

My prayer for you is that you stay fast and hold the course as you seek God’s kingdom in your life – and that you never give up until he has brought it to pass.