Seek FIRST (aim and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and the all these things taken together will be given you besides. Matthew 6:33
When we wake up in the morning it is natural for us to think “what do I need, what do I need to eat today, to do today, to get today”. It is easy to bring a “getting” mentality into our relationship with Jesus. We have been taught our whole lives to pray for what we need. Yes, we should ask. We should make our deepest hearts desires known to our Heavenly Father. Yet there is so much more!
There is so much more in the seeking. It isn't a transactional relationship. We don't submit our “list” and then He sends the reply right away or in 3-5 business days. It is a relationship.
If we walked up to our friends and said “Hello, I am hanging out with you today so I can get love and affirmation from you and hopefully you will buy me coffee too, cause I don't have a lot of money” how deep do you think that relationship is? How long do you think it will last?
What if we only married people for what we could get instead of what we could give? If someone gets married only for the benefits, sex, and affirmation, the relationship wont last long. It will fade, because when someone walks into a relationship that is self centered, once their expectations and needs aren't perfectly met, they lose interest.
How many times do we do this with our Daddy God without realizing? When our prayers aren't answered with what we desire, we can question if He hears us, or if He is speaking back. We can think He doesn't love us anymore, or wants to teach us a lesson (in a twisted wrong way). When we are so focused on the gift we want rather than the gift Giver, our perspective is distorted and we measure His love, His response, and His investment in our lives by if we are getting everything we want when we want it.
When we try to measure God based on our desires being met (no matter how pure our request) we lose sight of WHO He really is to us. When we seek Him we will know He is Faithful, He is Love and He is Kind Father even when we don't receive what we want when we want it or understand exactly what is going on.
“Seek FIRST of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right)”
Wow, so many times I have judged and the “lack” of Him doing something in my life based on my own way of doing and being right. His ways are so “Other than” ours. They are higher wider and deeper. I struggled to realize that His love and faithfulness were the same in the midst of my deepest pain as they are when everything is going as I planned.
When we seek to KNOW HIM and not what He can give, we step closer to thinking like He does and seeing things from a higher perspective. Death, trails, sickness and pain lose their destructive power over our lives when we become united heart soul and mind with the one who has victory over all DESPITE what is happening. (I know, its hard to wrap our brains around right?).
“and all these things taken together will be given to you besides”
Another translation says “all those things will be added to you”
The things we desire are additions, extras, they are the things that are added. They aren't THE relationship. If we base our relationship on seeking HIM then no matter what we go through we are rooted and grounded in the one who is all we need. He is the one that sustains us. He is the one who gives us hope, surrounds us in love, and brings us through darkness no matter what we face.
Let us seek first the Giver, not the gift.
When we wake up in the morning it is natural for us to think “what do I need, what do I need to eat today, to do today, to get today”. It is easy to bring a “getting” mentality into our relationship with Jesus. We have been taught our whole lives to pray for what we need. Yes, we should ask. We should make our deepest hearts desires known to our Heavenly Father. Yet there is so much more!
There is so much more in the seeking. It isn't a transactional relationship. We don't submit our “list” and then He sends the reply right away or in 3-5 business days. It is a relationship.
If we walked up to our friends and said “Hello, I am hanging out with you today so I can get love and affirmation from you and hopefully you will buy me coffee too, cause I don't have a lot of money” how deep do you think that relationship is? How long do you think it will last?
What if we only married people for what we could get instead of what we could give? If someone gets married only for the benefits, sex, and affirmation, the relationship wont last long. It will fade, because when someone walks into a relationship that is self centered, once their expectations and needs aren't perfectly met, they lose interest.
How many times do we do this with our Daddy God without realizing? When our prayers aren't answered with what we desire, we can question if He hears us, or if He is speaking back. We can think He doesn't love us anymore, or wants to teach us a lesson (in a twisted wrong way). When we are so focused on the gift we want rather than the gift Giver, our perspective is distorted and we measure His love, His response, and His investment in our lives by if we are getting everything we want when we want it.
When we try to measure God based on our desires being met (no matter how pure our request) we lose sight of WHO He really is to us. When we seek Him we will know He is Faithful, He is Love and He is Kind Father even when we don't receive what we want when we want it or understand exactly what is going on.
“Seek FIRST of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right)”
Wow, so many times I have judged and the “lack” of Him doing something in my life based on my own way of doing and being right. His ways are so “Other than” ours. They are higher wider and deeper. I struggled to realize that His love and faithfulness were the same in the midst of my deepest pain as they are when everything is going as I planned.
When we seek to KNOW HIM and not what He can give, we step closer to thinking like He does and seeing things from a higher perspective. Death, trails, sickness and pain lose their destructive power over our lives when we become united heart soul and mind with the one who has victory over all DESPITE what is happening. (I know, its hard to wrap our brains around right?).
“and all these things taken together will be given to you besides”
Another translation says “all those things will be added to you”
The things we desire are additions, extras, they are the things that are added. They aren't THE relationship. If we base our relationship on seeking HIM then no matter what we go through we are rooted and grounded in the one who is all we need. He is the one that sustains us. He is the one who gives us hope, surrounds us in love, and brings us through darkness no matter what we face.
Let us seek first the Giver, not the gift.
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