Take a moment on this Monday morning to read these two text slowly; “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt. 6:33) …and then “…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…”
What do these two texts have in common? If you said that they assert a particular priority for our life as Christians…then give yourselves 50 points! “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” –The Greek work and tense for “seek” here makes it clear that this will be a long pursuit… “seek all of your life” and then the word “first” in the Greek is not simply talking about a numerical order but making something of first priority in your life.
And what is to be the first priority in the life of all believers? The Kingdom of God and His righteousness! We are to be continually seeking to implement the gospel into our lives so that we can live out the righteousness of Christ imputed to us for the glory of the Godhead. This begins with repentance on a regular basis for the sins of omission and commission we so easily commit…then moving on to receive the forgiveness that has been promised to us anew and living and walking according to God’s Word. Too easy…that’s grace! Grace is something it will take a life time to understand since we hardly can believe it!
Ok, but what does the next one have to do with priorities in the Christian life? If you say that it is only through Christ that we can accomplish the one above then give yourself 25 points. But if you said I can only glorify God as I keep my gaze directly on Christ undistracted by His grace and to His glory (and this takes a lot of work and commitment)… then give yourself the remaining 50 points…100 points total! Because “…looking to Jesus…Fixing your eyes on Jesus…” as the Greek says is like looking into a gun scope… you have to be fixed on the target in order to hit it…any distractions and you are going to miss.
Also, just as an aside…the word “looking to” like the exclamation “Behold” seek to get us to work at our understanding so that we may implement the truths we find/see! Christ is to be our top priority…our most prized possession…we can do nothing without Him and we cannot accomplish the goal of our redemption well unless we maintain our gaze on Him and Him alone as we run the race He set before us.
God Bless you, today!
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
