Kingdom First

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Matthew 6:33

Is anxiety leaching the joy from your life? Then let this promise infuse you with hope and comfort.

These words come on the heels of an animated teaching about God’s provision. Jesus wants his followers to understand how carefully the Father watches over them and is aware of their every need. Imagine Jesus, out in the open, surrounded by his disciples and crowds of eager listeners. He sees a bird in flight. Sweeping his arm skyward, he says, “Look at the birds of the air!” He glances at the ground and sees one of the hardy lilies indigenous to the region. Pointing at one, or perhaps plucking it and holding it up for all to see, he says, “Observe the lilies!” He wants to frame a picture in our minds that will focus our hearts on the Father and take our eyes off our worries.

When we view our needs through the prism of the love and power of the Father, our view is transformed. Our needs become the platform for his power, his entry point, his opening into our lives. He created you with needs. By his design, you require food and water and clothing and shelter. He knows you need all these things.

What to do when need looms large and anxiety takes you captive? Seek his Kingdom and his righteousness. Take all the energy that would go into fear and worry, and turn it toward the Kingdom. Let the King rule in your situation, and put your attention on worshiping and serving him. Let him use the situation that could distract you from him to draw you to him instead. Let your anxious heart come to rest in the promise that “he will give you everything you need.”

Father, thank you for providing for my every need. Thank you that I don’t have to spend my days consumed with worry; I can be consumed with you. No need enters my life for which you have not already planned and provided. I choose to keep anxiety from cluttering my heart, and instead let it be filled with you.

Prayer is but the opening of a channel from my emptiness to His fullness.

E. Stanley Jones(1884–1973), American missionary and theologian