God’s Kingdom vs My Kingdom

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

One of the great and godly mentors of my life was Bro. Bob Mowery, the pastor of Park Avenue Baptist Church in Nashville TN.  His life verse was Matthew 6:33. He put it at the bottom of his letters, in church promotional pieces, and it was featured in other documents.  He was a man who sought first the Kingdom of God above all else as a soul winner, a Biblical preacher, and a spiritual leader.

As Jesus delivers His Sermon on the Mount, what He said years ago to those gathered around Him is still true for us today.  The priority of our lives must be to seek the Kingdom of God.  Too often I find myself seeking the kingdom of myself before anything else.  Developing the ability to place the Kingdom of God before our selfish needs is a difficult and life-long task.  It demands discipline, sacrifice, and obedience to faithfully seek first the Kingdom of God.

Jesus points out that seeking the righteousness of God is a key component in seeking the Kingdom of God.  The righteousness of God is about God being exalted in all things.  The “rightness” of God and His justice are what compel us to seek His kingdom.  We exalt God because we desire the world to see and know God.  The aim of our life aim is for others to know the power, might, justice, perfection, wisdom, grace, and beauty of God.  When we desire this more than anything else, we truly desire the world to know God more than we desire to be known by the world.  We know we are seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first when we care more what the world thinks about God than what they think about us.

When I build my kingdom of self, I want to promote my righteousness.  My “rightness” cannot begin to compare to the holiness and purity of God.  Yet too often, I want others to know how “right” I am.  I want them to admire my wisdom, praise my abilities, or talk about how much they appreciate me.  When I build my kingdom, I become the object I try to exalt before the world.  I seek first the kingdom of self and my righteousness.

Finally, Jesus points out that if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, we can expect all the things of God to be added to us.  This paradoxical statement runs counter to our instinctive thoughts.  It is natural to think, in order to gain the things I want, I need to build my kingdom.  I must fortify my kingdom of self to protect the things I want to keep.  To leave my kingdom unguarded and pursue the kingdom God creates a sense of losing all the things I want to own.  However, it is only in pursuing the Kingdom of God first that I find these things.  I build my kingdom of self to keep from losing the things I have struggled to obtain.  But in the end I lose them anyway.  If I seek first the Kingdom of God, then I can gain the things that can only come from the hand of God.

Whose kingdom are you seeking?