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?

What if a lifeguard let someone drown because they jumped into the deep end before they knew how to swim? What if a firefighter ignored a fire because it was sparked by someone who fell asleep near their fireplace?

Thankfully, rescue professionals don’t stop to make value judgments on our personal character before rescuing us. They are trained and ready to rescue people in need regardless of how they got themselves into that position.

Philip Yancey writes about how God offers us spiritual rescue in this Our Daily Bread devotional. He compares our spiritual plight to that of a stranded hiker:

The central message of the Bible is one of rescue. Paul points out that none of us “deserve” God’s mercy and none of us can save ourselves. Like a stranded hiker, all we can do is call for help. Quoting the psalmist, he says, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God” (Rom. 3:10-11; Ps. 14:1-3).

The good news of the gospel is that in spite of our state, God seeks after us and responds to every plea for help. You might say that God is in the rescue business.

Read the rest of the devotional at odb.org.

How has God rescued you from unrighteousness?

Why do you do good deeds?

There are many answers to that question: “Because it helps my neighbor.” “Because God commands us to.” “Because it’s an expression of gratitude to Christ.” “Because it’s personally rewarding.” “Because it causes people to like me.” But in this devotional from My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers points out that acting righteously and living a morally pure life have an even more serious purpose: to point people to Jesus Christ.

Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left with this thought— “What a fine person that man is!” That is not being a true “friend of the bridegroom”— I am increasing all the time; He is not.

Read the full devotional at RBC.org.

Chambers’ point is that good deed and moral purity are not about us, the people doing them. They must be about Jesus—motivated by Jesus’ example, and carried out as an act of service to Him. If our good deeds point to anyone or anything other than Christ, we’ve missed the point of righteous behavior.