Seek first the Kingdom of God

Despite our best intentions, we continue to be betrayed by our desires. We preach the gospel, and make ourselves the subject instead of the gospel. By criticising hypocrites we implicate ourselves. How often do we really get a message across that is pure and innocent of hidden motives? You see we work hard to make progress, we argue to win, we earn to own, we cry to feel sorry and we complain because we lack. Nowhere is God the constant object of our everyday lives.

We are to seek first the Kingdom of God. Then only will everything else follow. Adam and Eve's behaviour was only a precursor to that which was to come. In absolute disbelief did they deny God by trying to obtain wisdom and knowledge through their own effort. Unable and unwilling to let God rule their lives, they wished rather to be masters. No one is free from this. Even Abraham who many  see as the symbol of the expression of faith failed by conceiving a child with a woman other than his wife. We want to be masters of our own lives when we take the glory for things that happened by our hands but were given by God. Moses made this mistake when taking the glory for the flowing water from rock. We are to seek first the Kingdom of God, and only then will everything else follow. Kierkegaard puts this phrase into action by pointing out that we have the choice to do this. It is such a delicate decision, one that is not forced upon is, but one that will set in motion the accent to righteousness. In Matthew we learn that the Kingdom of God  is like a man stumbling upon a great treasure. He sells everything to buy the land in which the treasure was found. If man is open to receiving the good news God might have mercy on Him and give him life. In this discovery he is willing to forgo everything to have everything - God. The Kingdom of heaven can also be expressed  as a fisherman searching his whole life for a specific pearl, and upon finding it he is willing to let go of everything, because he has found what his heart desires. Man will find God if he really wants to find God. And finally, the Kingdom of God is like a net cast into the ocean sweeping up all sorts of fish. The fisherman than takes with him the good fish and returns the bad fish to the ocean. Here believers will be separated from unbelievers. Those who are open to God, and those who seek Him will find Him. But those who do not wish to know God will never know Him, since the Holy Spirit does not work in someone who actively denies Him.

While the details of everyday life are important, they add to many unnecessary complexities to living life. Once again, by focusing on the details we subtract from the main objective, which is to seek the Kingdom of God first. We naturally, but wrongly, assume that we exercise control over outcomes. Outcomes are not always proportional to our inputs. If we used this logic we put faith into our own hands, instead of simply relying on God. Adam and Eve failed to see that they had God right there beside them. That the source of everything was walking with them and that any question they might pose be answered in perfect harmony. They had everything, but they lost it to gain everything for themselves. And in doing so they divorced themselves from everything only to gain nothing.

So, the only logical conclusion to make when going through life, is to make God the centre of everything. Everything else loses purpose when we change this equation. 

Along this path you will most likely venture off in a different direction. But that is ok since you know what it is to follow the right path. Hopefully you won't be too stubborn to turn around and continue on the path that is intended for us all.

To live out your salvation means to live like Christ. It means to choose humility over praise, to  sacrifice over being lifted, to be last so that others will be first. It is by lifting Christ that we are lifted up to heaven. If God is the centre of your world, then the world and all its worries are inconsequential. For to gain Christ is to truly gain life.