But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
- Matthew 6:33
I read this verse this morning as the start of one of my morning readings. The person expounding on the verse in the daily devotional went on to say a few things that I have read many times before without resistance. I simply accepted them and went on, but this morning it didn't sit right with me. So I reread it. Then I read Matthew 6, from where the verse is taken. Then after praying, I read the devotion once more. Now I understand why it bothers me, and because many I know use this and probably, like me, have read it many times without seeing the problem, I felt the need to step out on this limb and say I can not agree. With all due respect to the devotion 24 Hours A Day, which I have used for years and like very much overall for recovery oriented devotions, it is not scripture or sacred text and there are a few things in it that don't quite hit the mark. The May 15 meditation is one of these, and I pray that you, Dear Reader, will continue and hear, or rather read, me out, regardless of your love for this devotional or if you have never read it or heard of it.
This is not an attack on the devotional, which I have gotten much from over the years and will continue to read tomorrow, although to keep it somewhat fresh after many reads I obviously am not reading it on the labeled date. It is the end of the year and not May. Nor is this a look at me and how much I know about spiritual matters kind of thing. The person who wrote this may have much more wisdom than I, and I will not dispute that. I am however grateful for the Spirit allowing me to see something deeper this morning, and I have been instructed to give away what I have been given. In order to do that, I will quote this one meditation.
Meditation For The Day
"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all
these things shall be added unto you." We should not seek
material things first, but seek spiritual things first and
material things will come to us, as we honestly work for them.
Many people seek material things first and think they can then
grow into knowledge of spiritual things. You cannot serve God
and Mammon at the same time. The first requisites of an abundant
life are the spiritual things: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and
love. Until you have these qualities, quantities of material things
are of little real use to you.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may put much effort into acquiring spiritual things.
I pray that I may not expect good things until I am right
spiritually.
Does the above sound good to you? Do you agree with it? Or were you reading it with a critical eye trying to figure out what I've been rambling about, like it's one of those can you spot what's wrong with this picture? puzzles? Maybe now you're reading what I am writing with that same critical eye because you don't have an issue with the meditation and that means there must be an issue with my thoughts on it. Well, if so, good. Things like this, yes, even my writing, should be read with that critical eye and a heart sensitive to the Spirit so that every message can be tested against the Spirit to determine its truth (1 John 4:1). So come let us reason together and look at this a little more closely,
It sounds good. At least it did to me. I know that I have read it many times and have heard it discussed more than once since I entered the rooms of recovery nine years and about one month ago. We are told to seek spiritual things first and work hard for the material things we need, with a reminder that we can't serve God and money at the same time. Then, the first requisites of an abundant life are the spiritual things: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. Until you have these qualities, quantities of material things are of little real use to you. On the surface this looks good, and I agreed with it for years. Perhaps even now I am nitpicking, but it's the close things that scare me these days.
If something is 180° off it's usually pretty easy to see it. But something that is close and only a few degrees off course can get us seriously lost down the road as we think we're on course but aren't. One degree off for 60 miles will make you miss your target by a mile, and when we're speaking spiritual matters, being off be a mile is frightening, especially when I think about the places I go when I wonder from the umbrella of God's path and will for my life. The problem here is that this verse doesn't tell us to seek spiritual things first. This verse, Matthew 6:33, is the second to the last verse in the chapter, followed only be the instruction not to worry about tomorrow because today has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6 discusses motives for doing good, gives instruction on how to pray, how to fast, where to have our treasure, admonition about what we take into ourselves, the reminder we can't serve God and money and encouragement to trust God who cares for us before the verse we began with. The prerequisites for abundant life aren't the spiritual things. Honesty, purity, unselfishness and love are not things we do or become in order to have abundant life. Neither are the similar list of spiritual things we may also be familiar with: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are fruits of, or results of, the Spirit. Honesty, purity and unselfishness may not be on that list, but they are a result of the Spirit powering us, the grace enabling us to be and do what we could never do or be on our own nonetheless.
It's a small but important distinction, like the danger of being 1° off course, that we don't seek spiritual things like the fruits of the Spirit and honesty and being pure or even selfless love. What we seek first is the kingdom. A kingdom is the place under the rule and authority of a king. What we are to seek first, above all else, is that place where God is reigning in our lives, where we are submitted to Him, His authority and will, Relationship with God is the prerequisite to abundant life, to life worth living and to life that doesn't end with death. When we enter the kingdom and seek to place it first by letting Him rule in our lives, then the Spirit leads, guides and directs our way, and then those other things come and are possible. By the power of grace we are able to be honest, He makes us pure. We are able to live and love unselfishly, and we have peace, joy, love, gentleness and the other fruits of the Spirit.
If we are trying to produce or attain these spiritual things ourselves then we will fail. We are either unable to do them at all, or if we can do them, we can not do so consistently or long without falling short and slipping back into selfishness. This distinction becomes more evident when we look at the prayer here that follows the meditation. We don't earn the good things of God by trying hard to attain righteousness or spiritual things. That puts the effort back on us, and, lest we forget, we are powerless over our selfishness and sin. We can not rule, manage, or control ourselves. We must be careful that we are not trying to make ourselves good enough or right or spiritually fit. It is not our effort but the work of Christ that transforms us. We need a power greater than us, the Spirit within, to enable us to have the hope of living in right relationship with God, having victory over our old nature and seeing those wonderful spiritual attributes become characteristics for us. It's not let's try hard. Our prayer must be in the spirit of the Third Step, Lord, today, let me let you reign and be King of my life, heart and day. Help me to let you lead, guide and direct me, so that Your power can produce in me the love and the spiritual attributes of abundant life. You are the giver of good things, but help me to remember that it is relationship with you that I need to seek and the good things will follow. Help me to rely on and trust in the work that You have done on my behalf and not lean on my own understanding or strength to do what is right and attain the spiritual life that comes only from You. I surrender to Your reign over me. Help me as I go from here to do Your will.
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