Gospel.com Blog

How much time do you spend worrying about clothes, food and other necessities of life?

In Matthew 6 Jesus tells us that our worry over those things is misguided. Instead, our priorities should be seeking the kingdom of God and pursuing God’s righteousness (or justice depending on the translation). And, as Kent Van Til of the Today devotional reminds us, by seeking the kingdom and God’s justice, everything that we need will follow:

In ancient times, a king was the provider of justice and peace in the land. So seeking Gods kingdom involves a search for the justice of God. And we know what Gods justice is like if we have read Jesus teaching in the text surrounding our passage for today (see Matthew 5-7). In the kingdom great reversals occurthe poor inherit kingdom riches, the sorrowful are comforted, the empty are filled. The justice of God turns worldly justice on its head. The first are last, and the last first.

As Christians, we are called to seek out and establish this upside-down justice of Gods kingdom. Remember that seeking this justice is primary. To justice seekers in Gods kingdom, other things will come.

Is God convicting you about any of your priorities? What changes could you make to your life in order to make pursuing the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness bigger priorities?

Is the Kingdom of God a distant place, located far away in a heaven we won’t see until we die? Or is it here with us today—and if so, what does that mean? In the Slice of Infinity devotional, Jill Carattini explains

In the minds of many Christians, a chasm… exists between the kingdom of heaven and the world in which we now live. The kingdom of heaven is seen as the place we are journeying toward, the better country the writer of Hebrews describes. In contrast, our place on earth is seen as temporary; like Abraham, we are merely passing through. As a result, chasms stand between kingdom and earth, today and tomorrow, the physical and the spiritual. Whether intentionally or otherwise, the earth becomes something fleeting and irrelevant—one more commodity here for our use, like shampoo bottles in hotel bathrooms—while Christ is away preparing our permanent rooms. When the Christian pilgrimage is seen an ascent to another world, whether articulated or subconscious, this world soon becomes superfluous and God a distant caretaker.

This chasm not only belies a posture irresponsible for those called to love their neighbors and cultivate their surroundings, it betrays the identity and decree of a good creator, and negates the words of our most sacred prayer. What does it mean that we pray God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven? What does it mean that Christ repeatedly declared the kingdom of God is here and now among us? What does it mean that for lack of human praise the very rocks will cry out at the glory of their creator and the trees will clap their hands?

Read the full devotional at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Christians have often been guilty of focusing too much on the world to come and not enough on the world we live in now, as Carattini explains. But to ignore opportunities for Christian ministry right now is to surrender a large part of the Christian life over to the enemy!