Published by admin on 24 Jan 2014 at 02:02 pm
SEEK GOD FIRST
All we have to do is look at the news to see how people are struggling to make a living in many parts of the world. And if the economics of the world weren’t bad enough already, add to that wars, rumors of wars, natural disasters and pestilence. Fear rises up in many people about their future. But God has the solution well in hand for us, as it is written in Matthew 6:31-34;
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 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.
God is well aware of our needs, after all, we are His creation, and He knows us better than we know ourselves. Yet, we think we know all the answers to our many problems. Our answer is to seek the things of the world, and some are more ambitious than others in seeking them. Some are satisfied for “just having enough” to eat and drink, and others must have “more and more”, and greed drives many to oppress and cheat others in order to gain riches for themselves. God isn’t against you being rich, in fact, poverty is part of the curse on the world because we submitted ourselves to sin instead of obedience to Him. However, the Lord Jesus took the curse upon Himself, paying the price in full for our ransom, so we wouldn’t be under the curse any longer. So what happens? We just keep on doing what we’ve always done, and the curse keeps working in our lives because we continue to disregard God’s Word.
Notice again what it says in Matthew 6:33, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. We’re not real good at doing this, are we? It’s because we continue to think like the rest of the world thinks. That’s why we keep going round the same old mountain of suffering and lack. God never intended mankind to suffer lack. In fact, in the beginning, God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the best place on earth. There was no sickness, death, suffering, or lack. God provided bountifully for Adam and Eve in His paradise. Think about this for a moment; if God had no care for them, why would He have gone to the trouble to create a paradise for them, when it would have been easier to have just put them in the desert somewhere and told them to get by any way they could find? The answer is simple: God loves His creation and does what is best for them.
All went well for Adam and Eve until they decided to disobey God and listen to the devil. From there they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden and it’s been downhill for mankind ever since. But it was no so in the beginning! Again, that’s what happens when you stop seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and start seeking something else. Down through history there have been those who have sought God’s Kingdom first, and they have been blessed for it. And then there’s the rest who don’t. And the ones who don’t seek God have always been the ones who oppress those who have the blessings of God. Why is that? Even from the days of Cain and Abel, Cain was jealous of Abel, who pleased God, and he rose up and killed is brother Abel. Yet, Cain could have had God’s blessing just as well as his brother, if he would have sought the Kingdom of God first, like Abel did. You see, God isn’t running short of blessings. There are plenty to go around for all who will put God first. And if every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth put the Kingdom of God first, the world would be blessed beyond anything we could imagine. But no, mankind thinks they have a better idea…..which has resulted in death, wars, poverty, sickness, and every other curse.
People need to understand something; God is FOR us, not AGAINST us. He created us, and He knows what is best for us. If you buy a car, there is an owner’s manual included so you can learn how to operate the car in a manner that will allow you to make use of every possible advantage the car has to offer, in the best way so as to avoid breakdowns and expense. But many people just jump in the car and drive off, paying no attention to the manufacturer’s advice. Then when something that the owner should have taken care of but didn’t, resulting in a breakdown, the owner is quick to blame the manufacturer for their problem, when in fact, the manufacturer clearly warned the owner to properly maintain the car. Well, it’s no different with God, He warns us to SEEK HIM FIRST, but we think we don’t need to pay attention, so we seek our own first. And then when the bottom falls out of our bucket, we blame God for LETTING IT HAPPEN! Uh, excuse me? God told us to seek Him first, and He would take care of the rest of what we need. But His obligation ends there, folks, if we disregard His instructions to us.
A wise man seeks to please God, for he knows that is where his blessing is. The Lord Jesus spoke this parable in Matthew:
Mat 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
Mat 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Mat 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
This man recognized the value of being part of the Kingdom of God, and for the joy thereof, he invested all he had in God’s Kingdom. It doesn’t mean to go and sell all your earthly possessions and give all your money away and go live in a cave somewhere in poverty. You will notice the man “bought that field” containing the treasure. That meant he was richer after doing so than he was before! Rather, it means to put all your efforts into seeking God FIRST, and letting God arrange and guide your life into the blessing. And of course, God will let you have your own way, seeing you think you have a better plan than He does. But don’t come crying to God after your grand plan falls through, because He tried to warn you ahead of time, there’s a thief out there who is only out to kill, steal, and to destroy all you have. The Lord Jesus told us that He came that we might have life, and that we might have it “more abundantly”. In other words, God wants you to live in the blessing. It’s the devil that wants you to live in the curse, after all, he is the father of sin, sickness, war, strife, and all the rest of the curse, and he is the one who brought all this suffering unto mankind in the first place.
If you think all your problems are because God is trying to teach you something, you have stumbled onto a half-truth. Yes, God IS trying to teach you something alright; that HE is your ticket out of the curse, into the blessed life, the ABUNDANT life. But the real truth of the matter is, God isn’t the source of your problems. God is your solution. Wrong choices and listening to the devil is the source of your problems, but I know that isn’t what you want to hear, however, the truth is the truth, whether you want to believe it or not.
The good news is, no matter how long you’ve been living under the curse, no matter how long you’ve been sick or poor, no matter how bad your situation may be right now, GOD HAS THE WAY TO BRING YOU INTO THE BLESSING! Will it cost you something? Yes. It will require you to change the way you think, speak, and act. It will require you to SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. That means you will no longer seek your own, but rather, you will allow yourself to be instructed by God in how you live. Depending on how diligently you seek God FIRST, will determine how quickly you come out of the curse into the abundant life of blessing. If you put everything you have into it like the man in the parable who found a pearl of great price and sold all he had and purchased that pearl, you will find the transformation of your life to be pretty quick and dramatic. But if you put little effort into seeking God first, well, your life will change accordingly. It’s really up to you, how much you want to live in the blessing. If you are satisfied to live like the rest of the world, struggling every day of your life, then continue to do so, that’s your choice. But if you want to have life more abundantly, then you have but one choice: SEEK GOD FIRST!
If you seek God first, your only regret will be why you didn’t do it long ago!
BENEDICT on 04 Mar 2014 at 8:43 pm #
Please I would like to know how to seek God first after reading through this teaching.
Thanks.
Ben.