Mathew 6:33

In my last post we looked at the fact that God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies, but they do no work. Yet God takes care of them anyway.

Mathew 6:32 says not to worry about the things that we need. Because God already knows our needs and He will supply us with them. But these are the things that the gentiles or the lost seek after. Mathew assures us that God already knows about our needs.

Mathew 6:33 says that we should first seek after the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all of these things will be given to us.

To seek means to worship, to desire, to enquire or to seek after. The word Kingdom when taken back to the Greek means, the one who rules the kingdom or the foundation of power in the kingdom. The word Righteousness when taken back to the Greek, means the equity of character. It's God's character that we are taking about, obviously. His Character is perfect, He is Holy.

When put totally together, this is what we have: We are to worship, to desire, to enquire of, or seek after God who is the power or authority in His Kingdom. We are also to seek after the equity of God's character.

Jesus said of Himself, that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Galatians 6:7 says that whatever a person sows that is what they will reap. Those who sow to their flesh will reap corruption. But those who sow to the Spirit will reap life everlasting.

Based on these scriptures, we can know that God's character is the consistency of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is: Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. In order to get the fullness of the strength of God's character we would need to exegetically dig the meanings out of all of these words. Bear with me and we will do it.

It's so easy to lose sight of these things in our daily lives. Especially with everything going on in our lives and in the world around us daily. But, these are truly the Basics To Life. Next time we will begin to look in depth at each fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Kingdom Living

To be a citizen of a country or a kingdom means that one has a responsibility to uphold the laws of the land in their own lives. We basically know what those are, which ever country that may be. But to be a citizen means one also has rights and privileges, as a result of their citizenship status.

No matter which country you live in today, the economy is probably down turned. The unemployment rate is probably up, the stock market is probably down. The economic environment has more than likely soured. But it you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour you are a member of the Kingdom of Heaven, no matter what country you physically live in.

As a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven you are not living on the economy of the country in which you physically live. The Bible says, that as Christians we are to walk by faith and not by sight. Meaning that even though things look bleak, we are not subject to such bleakness. Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians, that God will provide for all of our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Sometimes God will allow us to go through things such as, a job loss, an illness, or even a direct financial loss of some kind. But, in Romans 8:28, Paul writes, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. The Lord will provide for our needs as we go through those things.

A recent poll reveals that 25% of people cannot sleep at night, because of the economic fears. But, Jesus told us in the Sermon On The Mount, to be anxious for nothing. Because God feeds the birds of air and clothes the lilies. He knows that we have need of food and clothing also. He goes on to say, but seek first, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things shall be added to you. God is our Father, the Bible says that if you being evil, provide good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven provide good gifts to you.

God wants us to sleep well at night. He will meet our needs, because we are living on God's economy not the world's economy. Next time we will look at what is means to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.