Living a Kingdom Life

Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33 fascinate me,

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Let’s settle in there for a moment. “But,” is a conjunction…a comparison. In the Greek the first word in the sentence is “seek,” but in English we start here to contrast what He said about treasures, money, food, drink, clothing, etc. He says, in verse 32,

“For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek…”

We are not to be like the world. As followers of Jesus we are different. “Seek” is an imperative…it is a command. It is something each of us must do…we can’t do it for one another. It is something we must continually do…we can never stop. What He is saying is, “Seek this as of first importance above everything else.”

Seek what? “Seek first the kingdom of God.” Our consuming desire, our overwhelming passion is the “kingdom of God.” Jesus isn’t talking about “when I get around to it,” or “if something better doesn’t come up,” He is talking about a singular pursuit. About what gets you up in the morning, what causes you to turn off the TV, to skip meals, it is to be like a child trying to sleep on Christmas Eve!

“Seek first the kingdom of God.” I’m afraid the Church as a whole has lost the mindset of the Kingdom, of being Kingdom people, or Kingdom citizens. We are not even sure how to define it…much less seek it. George Ladd speaks of the Kingdom as something is already and not yet.

We won’t see the full consummation of it until Jesus’ Second Coming, but it began at his First Coming. It is already and not yet. The moment we are born again we enter into His Kingdom. It is a radical thing and a fundamental demand of our King…seek His rule and submit to it.

Matthew 11:12 says,

“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”

There is a violence required in our pursuit…not toward others, but toward the sin in our own lives. Jesus says if your eye causes you to sin—pluck it out, if your hand causes you to sin—cut it off. He tells us to strive to enter by the narrow door. The word strive speaks of agonizing. We are far too casual about the Kingdom.

To seek first the Kingdom of God will cost us everything. The days of self-seeking glory are gone, the days of comfort-seeking lives are gone, we serve the King and must wake up, live, and go to bed with the one thing in mind…glorifying the King.

Every conversation is spent trying to make Him known. Every dollar is spent is spent for His glory because it all came from Him. Every relationship is centered in Him. Every moment is consumed with knowing Him and making Him known. Following Jesus is not an addendum you add to your already busy life—following Jesus is dying to yourself and living for Him. Anything else is sub-Christian and not recognizable as biblical.

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. The moment we are saved Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to us, but there is a righteousness that must be lived out…a holiness that comes with seeking His kingdom first. We begin to live out what God has done inwardly through His salvation.

“And all these things will be added to you.” What things? All the stuff the world worries about, seeks day and night, and gets ulcers over…that stuff is added to you when you live for the King and His Kingdom…so seek His kingdom and trust the King!