Listen:  125.6

Before quoting the verse in question, let me just say that in Matthew, chapters 5-7 we have the well-known “Sermon on the Mount.”  In these chapters we see the Lord Jesus Christ as the King giving to His royal subjects the principles that they should live by.  If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you are in His kingdom even now, for we read in Colossians 1:13 that God the Father has “…delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” The “kingdom of God” is the place where Christ is owned as King, and “His righteousness” is “doing what is RIGHT” by living according to all the principles set forth in these wonderful chapters.  I would stress the point that this portion is not instructing unbelievers on how to live, nor is it telling people how to be saved; it is for true disciples, or followers, of Christ who want to represent their King and bring glory to His blessed Name.

I will now quote Matthew 6:31-34, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”  This passage is one of the most important principles we have to live by. As believers in Christ’s heavenly kingdom we are to be focused primarily on one thing; we are to SEEK GOD’S INTERESTS while we live our lives on earth. We are not to be focused on earthly things, including the necessities of life, such as food, drink, and clothing.  If our minds are set on earthly things you can be sure we’ll end up obsessing over them and worrying about them.  This is what characterizes unbelievers who live their lives seeking only those things which cater to the lusts of the flesh. We that are saved have been given a new life, with new desires, and it’s our privilege (and responsibility) to “seek…the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” which is really “seeking God’s interests” instead of our own.

In order to “seek God’s interests” we must take to heart Colossians 3:1-2 which says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.”  It is absolutely vital that we, who belong to Christ’s heavenly kingdom, be “heavenly-minded!”  We need to have Christ as our Object, the One who is sitting on His Father’s throne in glory. How do we do this?  By allowing the Spirit of God to set our minds on Christ through the scriptures, as we see in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” As we meditate upon our blessed Lord Jesus in the scriptures we will be changed, little by little, into His image. While this blessed transformation is taking place, we will find ourselves naturally seeking God’s interests and doing His will, just as Christ ever did the will of His Father. He could say, in truth, “…I do always those things that please Him” as we read in John 8:29.

May we take the words we have had before us to heart and never be characterized by what the apostle Paul had to write in Philippians 2:20, “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” The Lord Jesus is worthy of our affections and our devotion, is He not?  So may we, by His grace, seek “…the things that are Jesus Christ’s” every minute of our lives here on earth. If we do we will indeed be living by those blessed words of our King, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and then the promise will be ours, “…and all these things shall be added unto you.” Our heavenly Father will supply us with everything we need.  We need only to concern ourselves with His interests and He will most surely take care of our needs, whatever they may be.  (125.6)  (DO)