A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (July 25, 2018)
But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)
What is on your priority list today? What is the most important thing to you? What are you seeking first? Is it security for you and your family? Is it dealing with a sickness? Is it a business venture or job? Is it a personal relationship? Is it supporting a particular political candidate or party? What is it exactly that is the most important pursuit (priority number one) in your life?
I can’t answer that question for you. You will have to do that. However, I can tell you what we (my wife and I) seek first in our lives and how we interpret Matthew 6:33 when it instructs us to seek first the Kingdom of God and all the other things that we have need of will be added to us.
The Greek word “first” in Matthew 6:33 is “proton” which means foremost, chiefly, firstly, or best. Now, in the simplest form, a Kingdom is made up of the King and his subjects. The King in our case is Jesus, for He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His subjects include all those that are born-again and following in His way. Isaiah calls us the wayfarers. Paul, before he was converted, called us the people of the Way.
My wife and I are evangelists at heart. Our heart’s cry for 36 years has been to see people born-again and thereby populate the Kingdom. It does not matter to us what they look like, what nationality they are, what denomination they belong to or don’t belong to, what they have done in the past, or what political party they are associated with. The most important thing is to seek first the Kingdom of God for ourselves and for them. That is our calling and should be the calling of all true evangelists.
Here is the challenge we face in today’s highly charged and divisive culture. We all want to be in a camp that believes like we do and there is nothing wrong with that when it comes to our inner circle. But, is that what we see in Jesus when it comes to reaching a lost world? It seems to me that Jesus was always going places He shouldn’t go and associating with people He shouldn’t be associating with according to the religious leaders of His day and sometimes His own disciples. The Apostle Paul did the same thing and said the following concerning this matter:
For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain (1 Corinthians 9:19-24).
Here is the reasoning for the actions of Jesus and Paul. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). People that are not born-again are blinded by the philosophies and religions of this world. They will never see the truth until the scales are removed from their eyes. We will not be able to convince them of the truth by the greatest of intellectual or theological arguments or by excluding them from our presence. They are blind just like the Apostle Paul was until Ananias laid hands on him, prayed for him, and the scales fell from his eyes (Acts 9:17-18).
This is what we have personally experienced over the years. The greatest harvest of souls that we have seen has been outside the four walls of the church in settings where some people heard the true Gospel and saw the love of God for the first time. They were there because someone loved them enough to bring them there. Let’s never lose sight of the fact that someone thought enough about us to do the same thing, in one fashion or another. That is probably what Jesus meant when He said we should return to our first love (Revelation 2:4-5).
We that have experienced this great grace have a deep responsibility to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to “every” creature. It is a higher calling. That is what we think seeking first the Kingdom of God means. It’s all about eternity. It’s all about taking water to the desert. It’s all about setting our eyes on things above and not on things down here on earth. It’s all about souls!!! So, let’s all get after it!!!
