Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. – Matthew 6:33
Lately during Bible class and in sermons, William, the preacher at New Hope Road has been really hitting on the subject of seeking first the kingdom and what this means. He has said at least twice now that if you are truly seeking first the kingdom, it should be no question as to where you are going to be on Sunday – you already know that you are going to be at Bible Class and Worship services. It isn’t a question of “Am I going to church this morning?” – your Sundays are taken every week of the year, unless there is an actual legitimate reason as to why you can’t be there.
Side note: I personally think that we even take that a bit far. We say, “Oh, I feel a little headache coming on, I better stay home…” – let me tell you something. We have a very old couple at our congregation. The wife is completely mute because she had a stroke years ago, and the husband has to use a walker to make it around because of horrible leg problems. Every time I ask him how he is doing, he says he is not doing well at all. And yet, they are both there as often as they can. And we use any and every excuse to not be there. In foreign countries, everyone from the smallest to the oldest will walk miles just to get to a place where the Saints are meeting! It doesn’t take much effort for us to make it, and yet we don’t even attempt sometimes to make that effort!! This is shameful.
Wanna know the most legitimate reason why we sometimes miss services (on a regular basis especially)? Satan. I know that may be a bit harsh to say, but Satan has a goal to keep us all as far away from God as possible, and if he can just get us to miss here and there and not think much of it, and then even do it regularly without much of a thought or any feeling of regret… he truly has succeeded! One less soul devoted to God. One less soul truly seeking God.
What does it mean to truly seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness? Or, maybe the question should be, “How?” Well think about it. The Bible tells us to seek God and His righteousness. Can it be that hard? It’s all in the Bible! I like the way the psalmist put it in Psalm 119:11:
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
To seek God’s kingdom and righteousness, we need to hide His words, the words given to us in the Bible, in our hearts. It needs to be something that we keep with us and meditate on. It needs to be in the forefront of our minds and it needs to take precedence over all other things in our life. This is something that Carl and I are working very hard to instill in our son. We put a big stress on learning from and about the Bible and our Creator, and about Christ and His church. That comes first when we begin learning new things. We do learn the alphabet and our colors and shapes, but that is not what is most important to us.
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign
upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children,
speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon
thy gates: – Deuteronomy 11:18-20.
How do we seek after God’s kingdom and His righteousness? We make it our top priority. How do we make sure our children are seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness? Well first of all, we have to be doing so ourselves. We have to be making it our first priority. We need to be doing exactly as Deuteronomy 11:18-20 says to do. As parents, we have been entrusted with these little souls by God and it is our duty to protect these souls against the wiles of the devil by armoring them with the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).
Just like William has been saying, if you are not devoting yourself to gathering with the saints on the day that has been put aside for that – Sunday, the Lord’s day – then you are obviously not seeking first the Kingdom. It’s not your first priority and it likely won’t be your children’s first priority, if or when you have children. It should never be the case that you wake up on Sunday morning and groan, “I have to go to church today…” – you should wake up in the morning on Sunday and say, “I get to worship God our Father with the brethren today!” It isn’t some burden that has been placed upon us. It isn’t punishment, and what’s more, if you’re seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness, it isn’t optional. There should be no question in your mind. If you are seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, you’re going to put forth that effort, and you’re going to do it joyfully!
