Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. -Jesus, Matthew 6:33
When Jesus invites us to "seek first God's Kingdom," He has two groups in mind. Perhaps you fall into one of these groups; perhaps you feel present in both.
First, there's the group that is seeking the Kingdom because they are "spiritually poor," and they "hunger and thirst for righteousness," and are lowly, mournful, sincere, long for peace, and feel marginalized. These are the people Jesus blesses and invites at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5:3-10)
Maybe this is you. You feel empty, upset, frustrated, angry, anxious. You know you don't have it in you to change the things around you, or within you, that bring you down. When Jesus declares a blessing over these "have-nots" you feel your spirit lift. "What could He mean?" To you Jesus says, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." If you hunger and thirst for what you perceive that Jesus has, "you shall be satisfied."
Then there's the second group, the group that is praying with Jesus His prayer, "Let Your Kingdom come, O Father, and let Your will be done." These are those who are asking for the Kingdom, seeking the Kingdom, knocking at the gate of the Kingdom. (Matthew 7:7-8) These are the people Jesus says a few chapters later whom the Father has raised up and sent out: laborers to work the harvest of the Lord. (Matthew 9:38)
Maybe this is you. You look around you and ache. You see the folly of the world, the emptiness in the eyes of the people you meet. You hear their sad stories of loneliness, substance abuse, fear and despair. You know what they need: the very same One who called you from darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9) And so when you pray for the Kingdom, you pray that others might enter it and that you might be able to help. You're the person Jesus says to pray for, the laborer ready to get some blisters sowing and watering and harvesting all whom the Spirit has drawn.
Then there's those of us who feel ourselves to be in both groups. On the one hand, there's a lingering sense of dread, a fearfulness we're also ashamed of, a frustration with where we are, as Christians, as humans, in all our roles and responsibilities. But on the other hand, we know Him whom we have believed in, and we are confident that He is faithful, that He is working, and that what He works is the best good there is. And we just have one prayer: Lord, use me. So, we're mixed. We struggle. We love Jesus; we long for Jesus. We long to help others see Jesus; we long to see Jesus.
I don't know that any of us is firmly in one group or the other, for what both groups long for is--you guessed it--Jesus. Jesus to take our hand, to comfort us and steady us; Jesus to be our guide as we go forth with Him, following Him, for Him.
Do you long for Jesus? Seek first the Kingdom of God. Do you long for Jesus? Seek first the Kingdom of God.
The whole book of Matthew is built around satisfying this longing. It opens with the promise, "He will be 'Immanuel,' that is, 'God with us'." It ends with the delivery, "I will be with you always." (Matthew 1:23; 28:20) It's Jesus God gives us; it's Jesus we all of us long for and need.
So wherever you are, friend, know this: the quiet that you desire will only be found within the gates of the Kingdom where is the presence of Christ, and the purpose you're driving toward will only be obtained down the path, the narrow way, past the gate that is opened in Christ.
Further up; further in.
