Seek First


But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

On Mother’s Day our pastor told a story about a little boy who just loved his kindergarten teacher. One day when his mom was volunteering at his school he fell and hurt his knee. In tears he headed toward the spot where both his mother and teacher were standing. The pastor left the child’s final destination as a question to illustrate his point about mothers and children. He left me with a different thought.
Picture the scene in your own life. You’ve “fallen.” You’re hurt, frightened or disappointed. Where do you run? Do you have an image in your head? Okay.

Now, picture your choice. Is it God? If it isn’t what is it? Picture God standing right beside the thing or the person you chose as your comfort zone. He’s waiting, arms open. Did you run right on by? Did you even glance His way?

What about a little while later? Everything in this world fades. Nothing is forever except for God’s love. If you ran to a person, they may well let you down, maybe not every time but at some point. If you ran to a thing it will certainly let you down. Do you doubt that? Ask any addict you know, they’ll tell you. Things are never enough.  People, even the best of them, and things, even really good things, are temporary solutions, temporary comforts.
God is eternal, ever-present, mighty to save. Think about this, He provided all those other comforts, friends, coffee, chocolate, books, movies, etc.  He is fine with us reaching for people and even for things as long as they come second to Him. He didn’t say seek me only. He said, seek me first.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not Really god, where are you?

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning to noon.”Baal answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said, “Surely he is a god! Perhaps his is deep in thought, or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 1 Kings 18:26b-27 Those who know me would be quick to tell you that I am a bit sarcastic. It’s a quality that I have passed on to my children and even some of my grandchildren. Some days I feel a little guilty. Is that really a quality that God wants to see in me? Certainly that cannot be my go to attitude but there are times that it comes in quite nicely. This morning, reading a totally unrelated verse, I was reminded of this account in the first book of Kings. (It begins at verse 16 and continues to the end of the chapter. I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t and it if you have reread it. It’s great!) In this p
Read more

My Offering

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also love you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2 Standing in my kitchen, I was praying that what I was putting together for a friend would convey what I want her to know, that I so deeply appreciate her. As my mind spun around what can I add? What would she really like? Is this enough? I had to laugh. That is so often my prayer, “Lord, I don’t have anything to give. I don’t give enough. What can I possibly do?” and on, and on and…. Well, you get it, I’m sure. May I just say, GOD IS GOOD! (Yes, I know the caps mean I’m shouting. Yes, I am shouting!) While I was preparing my “gift” I was thinking about how often I feel that I don’t do enough, for friends, for family, for my hubby and certainly for God. I had music playing, another pretty typical occurrence. The Third Day song, “Offering” started to play and I started singing along.
Read more

Selective Sight

You shall not bow down to them; for I, the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing love to the a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:5-6 A precious little one that I know has a glass eye. We’ll call him Jack. Beyond the lack of his eye, Jack has a lot of other challenges. His brain hasn’t caught up with his chronology and it most likely never will. My expectation is that Jack will always need someone close by to help him through life. He’s a needy kid who is also a little bit on the naughty side. It was his uniquely naughty nature that taught me a spiritual lesson. You see, little Jack can pop out that glass eye and he does. The other day while I was with him another child in the room was yelling, “Eye, eye, eye.” Not having experienced Jack’s particular talent I heard it is “I, I, I”. Just as I was about to ask her to please b
Read more