Seek FIRST
Jesus said, “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
This command comes in the middle of a discourse about God’s provision for us which could be summed up as, “Don’t worry. God’s got you.” Because of the context, it’s way too easy to see the “all these things shall be added to you” without considering the imperative, “Seek first.”
Seek… the Greek verb is zēteō, and it means literally, “To seek in order to find.” This is not philosophical suggestion Jesus was making – “seek” is a command to us, and both the Kingdom of God and His righteousness are real and attainable by us. This is God’s expectation for His people; we are commanded to go after, to find, to get the Kingdom and His righteousness.
This verb is an imperative, and can have a connotation of expecting or even demanding something of the one who owns something. For example, if I am seeking apples and you own an apple tree, I’m not saying, “Please, may I have an apple?” – I’m saying, “Give me an apple” with the expectation that you will indeed do so!
Jesus used different language but a similar sentiment when He said we should pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.”1 This is also phrased as an imperative, which “expresses a command to the hearer to perform a certain action by the order and authority of the one commanding.”2
Yes – Jesus really did say, “Command God to perform an action”… but remember, this isn’t “Your money or your life” – this is relational, borne in covenant. We’re not exercising dominion over God, but dominion with Him, by His invitation. In a parallel passage, Jesus says, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good, pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” (Luke 12:31,32)
Daddy in Heaven wants us to seek so that He can give! It is the glory of God to conceal a matter… and the glory of kings to search or seek it out.3 To paraphrase Bill Johnson – God doesn’t hide things from us. He hides them for us. He delights in us seeking and finding His treasures.
And so we must seek the Kingdom and righteousness first… which means simply, “first”. Not second, not an afterthought, not later, not when it’s convenient, not when it’s easy… it means, “first.” When Jesus said, “Do not worry”, what He was getting at was, “don’t let all this other stuff of life distract you from your primary purpose.” Not only should we not worry or be distracted by material concerns like family matters or the economy… we also shouldn’t be distracted by what God is doing. Miracles, signs, and wonders abound and where should our focus be? “Seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness”… always.
That which is in first place has the place of absolute priority. Nothing else can be more important to us than this pursuit.
Why? Not because our “stuff” doesn’t matter to God. He cares about the things we care about very, very much. In fact, His care for us is evident in this command. Kingdom means, “the King’s domain,” and refers to the area over which the King has dominion. Therefore, when we seek first the Kingdom, “all these things” of life come under His dominion through our total, willful submission to and partnership with that dominion. Furthermore, when His righteousness is our priority (nothing else takes its place, it’s not put off, it’s not shed because it’s inconvenient), all that we do is from a place of right standing with God.
It’s not our righteousness, it’s not something we earn or achieve; it’s His righteousness we must seek. The word “righteousness” has a sense of justice or getting what one deserves. Thank God that we don’t get what we deserve – Jesus took that for us so that we could get what He deserves!
In His righteousness, we are as we ought to be, as He longs for us to be… and we know who we are and who He is. Everything we do flows from the purity of that relationship, and “nothing shall by any means hurt you”.4 The enemy has no legal right when we are clothed in God’s righteousness.
Consider the things that must bow to the dominion of God: sin, disease, death, poverty, demons, depression, despair, the list goes on. Every sin, every sickness, every storm, and every spirit is 100% subject to Him. Focusing on them does not bring change – in fact, focusing on sin, sickness, storm or spirit just exalts satan. Remember, we become like what we see. If all we see is our trouble, sooner or later we’ll start looking like it.
How do we see transformation in a situation? Jesus said that if He casts out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.5 He also said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.”6 God does not want us to keep His Kingdom within us… He commanded, “Freely you have received, freely give”7.
When we encounter a situation, be it storm, sickness, sin, or spirit, we must release the Kingdom – the King’s dominion, by Holy Spirit – upon that situation. We cannot release what we do not possess… and therefore, we must seek first the Kingdom of God.
- Matthew 6:10
- For parsing information, see Blue Letter Bible – Help, Tutorials, and FAQs
- Proverbs 25:2
- Luke 10:19
- Matthew 12:28
- Luke 17:21
- Matthew 10:8
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