Our First Pursuit

Matthew 6:31-34

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33)

“THE BEST LAID PLANS OF mice and men go oft awry.” So wrote Scottish poet Robert Burns (albeit in more archaic language), and his words have been quoted ever since because their message rings true. The best laid plans of God, however, are always on point. The question for us, then, is how we get from “awry” to “on point” as often as possible, both at the practical level of our daily lives and in the big picture of our future. In other words, how do we align ourselves with God’s plans rather than spinning our wheels trying to follow our own?

The answer is counterintuitive, but it is vital for being salt and light in this world. The best way to reorient our plans to align with God’s ways is to cultivate face-to-face intimacy with him—profound fellowship that involves regular feasting on his Word, two-way conversations with him, and worship at the deepest levels of the heart. That sort of relationship will take a significant chunk out of our daily schedules and perhaps leave some items on our to-do lists unchecked, but it will streamline the rest of our lives, make our paths more efficient (at least by God’s definition), create opportunities we could not have created on our own, and cultivate fruitfulness in whatever we do. It will not mean a trouble-free life, but it will mean a life in sync with God. And that is worth sacrificing whatever plans we hold tightly.

When you spend time in God’s presence, you tend to get much more done “coincidentally” than you ever used to accomplish when you were trying your best. As the orchestrator of faithful lives, he calls us into the kind of relationship in which we can abandon ourselves to him and expect him to work on our behalf. We do our part, to be sure, but we do it following his lead and with his backing. There is no better laid plan than that, and there is nothing with greater potential to influence the world.

{Father, you tell me to seek your Kingdom above all else—and the first part of seeking the Kingdom is to seek the King. My spirit hungers and thirsts for fellowship with you; all else, I leave in your hands. Amen.