SEEK YE FIRST
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33
All of us have struggled with the challenge of keeping our lives organized in such a way that we will have time available for the most important things in life. If we are going to see consistent spiritual progress, we must find a way to discipline ourselves in the matter of our priorities. A great many people begin to go in the wrong direction spiritually because of their failure to keep their priorities in line. We must keep first things first. Sometimes the things that really appear to be the most pressing and urgent may not actually be as important as they seem. Someone has aptly referred to this dilemma as the “Tyranny Of The Urgent.” Things that cry out for our attention, and appear to be extremely important, leave no time for the things that really deserve priority status. In order to do the most vital things first, we need to determine what our priorities are. This question has been partially answered for us in our text: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Our first order of business is to seek the Lord. This should take precedence over all other activities. What does it mean to seek the Lord first? No doubt, it includes many things. It means spending time daily in prayer and reading the Bible. It also includes the importance of assembling with the church family consistently. Another part of seeking Him and His kingdom first is our involvement in spreading the Gospel and reaching out to our world with the message of His salvation. Christ, His will, and His kingdom are to be the priorities of our lives. May God give us wisdom to schedule our days to make sure we give time to the things that matter the most.
The psalmist stated, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Not only do we need to identify the things that are most important for our lives, we also need to commit to a lifestyle that contributes to accomplishing them. We all have been guilty of doing the things that we enjoy the most first, and leaving the less pleasurable things for later, only to discover there is no time remaining for important responsibilities. We must remove time-wasters from our schedules. Time is a great gift from God, and we are to use it wisely.