31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:31-33
We all desire things; tangible gifts and items, opportunities and breakthroughs. Our souls yearn and desire for the aforementioned to bring about the ever sought after achievement, by all human beings, of absolute satisfaction. In recent times, there were a number of Genera Elections held within various countries. Such General Elections presented to the citizens of these countries the rare opportunity to cast their votes with the promise of good fortune or misfortune, based on their choice. With every season, such as this, these citizens would tend to question the future; to question the road ahead. Politicians have campaigned and made promises, as the people ask pertinent questions; “What will happen to us? What will happen to our children? What will happen to our country?“
Jesus addresses here in this scripture concerns we tend to have, not just in times like these, but concerns we tend to always have. These concerns, as mentioned before, would tend to be about provision and our well-being. But He makes a bold declaration; “Seek the Kingdom of God”. He then tells us to “Seek His Righteousness” as well. Interestingly, many of us might not have had a problem with these statements/instructions by themselves. However, He did give one important condition; “Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness”.
Many of us are seeking possessions, positions, power, pleasure, prosperity. Our lives are hinged on discovering and attaining these things. Sometimes we desire them to authentically meet personal needs and also to help others meet their needs. But sometimes, in aspiring to achieve these things, we develop and embrace selfish and evil motives. After all, the heart of man is deceitfully wicked.
It is important, in times such as these, to be honest before God and to be honest with yourself. The LORD has instructed us to seek His Kingdom and Righteousness first, even though we have our own goals, aspirations and intentions. However, you must ask yourself “am I really?”. It is important that you consider your heart’s desire and intent in everything that you do. Therefore, I want to encourage you to ask yourself this question: “What am I seeking after?”
#1 Am I seeking after signs or truth?
“Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
St. Luke 17:20-21
Definition of Sign – an object or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. (Dictionary.com)
A spiritual truth such as the Kingdom of God would be expected, by us naturally, to be identified by a grand sign. After all, it’s suppose to be “the Kingdom of God”. A kingdom is grand, extravagant, and visible by many. However, Jesus shows the simplicity of it all; the Kingdom of God is actually in and among us (Very Interesting). Now, to many, this sounds like a crazy man. “Where is the sign of this Kingdom, Jesus?” “There has to be a sign!”.
The issue here, however, is not that there was no sign of the Kingdom of God; the issue was that it was all too simple, too simple to the point that it had to be foolish. We expect thunder, lightning, rain, wind, fire, and shakings in our lives to prove the presence of God. But when it comes to stillness, silence, even simplicity, we tend to believe that God could never be in the midst.
This is exactly how many of us actually miss what God is saying or doing, especially in times like these (I would encourage you to read 1 Kings 19 to understand this point). Many of us constantly desire to see the dead raised to life, the seas parting, and fire falling from the sky, thinking that that will somehow draw men to know Christ or would somehow make us feel more in sync with God. But many of us were once spiritually dead, and now live. God had also created paths in great waters (representing the flood of situations that we face) for us on a daily basis spiritually and we don’t even realize it. Plus, these days tend to feel so hot, and in judgment God even intensifies the heat and allows heat and fires to occur in judgment, and we overlook that too.
And the biggest one – we ask or desire grand signs to be assured that God is with us, to be assured that He exists, that He is listening, “show me something and I will…etc.”, “If you do this then I will know you are real….etc.” or “If I see you do this then I will serve you etc.” – but while we do this on a daily basis, begging for signs, we miss the truth that He has written for us. We beg for signs from God while holding in our hands and having on our dusty shelves the diary of God; the very Word of God.
Signs or Truth – What are you seeking?
#2 Am I seeking after feelings or righteousness?
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 14:17
This scripture is interesting – the Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking. In the context of this particular scripture, the Apostle Paul was encouraging us not to place stumbling blocks in the way of our brethren, using the example of things we eat. He said in Romans 10:14 that he “knows and is persuaded of Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that sees something as unclean, to him it is unclean”. The whole purpose was that respect, care, and love for each other must be achieved in the Kingdom. Food, drink, rituals, practices and customs don’t matter.
We tend to get so caught up in traditions that we ascribe salvation to things salvation shouldn’t be ascribed to. “You wearing jeans on a Sunday? Hell for you!“; “You eating pork? Hell fire!“.
But it goes beyond traditions, customs etc. The Holy Spirit was helping me to reason out something the other day concerning this scripture. The Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking – I realized two things from this statement; (1) Eating and Drinking are two of the most essential things that we do on a daily basis, and (2) they are two tasks that not only affected by our emotions but can also affect our emotions; You feel happy when you eat and drink and you eat and drink to feel happy.
Every election season, for example, many people show forth their colours vividly. Some Christians show forth their “colours” in such a way that they get emotional, say anything they want to say, cuss their neighbor, or skip a time of corporate prayer or studying of the Word for a political rally. They get so hyped in the feeling of the time that they sometimes forsake the righteousness that should be shown in their own lives.
That’s why Paul had to show that the Kingdom is beyond food and drink – the Kingdom is beyond your need for satisfaction, a temporary desire, a tradition, a ritual, a feeling of ecstasy or offence, a fleeting or fanciful feeling, a hunger, a thirst, a sexual desire, an emotion, etc. The Kingdom is not about eating and drinking, the Kingdom of God is about RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, and JOY in the HOLY SPIRIT! People of God we need to grasp this before it is too late!
Feelings or Righteousness – What are you seeking
#3 Am I seeking after superstition and witchcraft or true spiritual power?
“Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”
St. Luke 10:9
I want to highlight four examples from scripture to help you understand this point:
Example 1: Daniel 2:26-30 –Nebuchadnezzar can’t remember what he dreamt and, obviously, doesn’t know what he dreamt since he can’t remember the actual dream. The wise men, astrologers, magicians, soothsayers, none of them can’t interpret because the king is asking them to tell him what he dreamt. He gets angry and makes a decision to kill all of them. God showed Daniel not just the interpretation of the dream but also showed Daniel the actual dream. Daniel then said, in verse 30, that the intention of God doing this was not to show that he (Daniel) was better than any but it was so that others can hear the message and that the king can know the very thoughts of his own heart.
Example 2: Leviticus 19:31 – “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”
Example 3: Matthew 10:1 – “And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.”
Example 4: St. John 1:4-5 – “4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Example 1 showed the limitless nature of true power versus the limitations of superstition and witchcraft.
Example 2 showed a separation of witchcraft from true spiritual power, and also a warning, that the workers of mediums, necromancers and so on – just as the other fellas in the days of Daniel – are not of God.
Example 3 shows that we have authority over all dark forces.
Example 4 then shows why we have such authority. When the light (Jesus) came into this dark world, the darkness could not comprehend it. Comprehend here is from the greek word “katelaben” which means “to lay hold of” or “to seize”. Therefore, it wasn’t just that darkness couldn’t understand the light, it was that darkness was arrested and seized by the light.
We tend to live very defeated lives. This is because of our lack of faith, our poor relationships with Jesus, and our lack of willingness to understand what is happening spiritually. We tend to be superstitious but rarely act in true power. If you are a believer and you believe that demons exist but you do not believe that you have authority over them, you are just superstitious. If, as a believer, you believe that the darkness that surrounds you in your society is superior to you, you’re just acting in superstition. Superstition – you know of and believe in a spiritual truth but you fail to see your divine placement in relation to it.
Then there is witchcraft and automatically everyone thinks that I mean some creepy woman or man in black in some cave in the mountain with a pointy nose and a boiling pot stirring it, waiting to eat children. Witchcraft refers to manipulation using darkness to achieve one’s own means. Using darkness doesn’t have to be incantations. It can be disobedience (1 Samuel 15:23), hatred, blackmailing, idolatry, even gossip (Proverbs 4:23-27).
What, then, is True Spiritual Power? True Spiritual Power is (1) operating under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, (2) operating in obedience to the Word of God, (3) operating in love and genuine concern for others (love covers a multitude of sins), and (4) operating with the knowledge and lifestyle of having a God-given authority over sin and darkness and disassociating yourself completely from every form of evil.
Superstition and Witchcraft or True Spiritual Power – What are you seeking?
Conclusion
The Church that will be seen as having no spots or wrinkles, in the eyes of God, would not be the Church that is selfish, self-seeking, compromising, and dabbling in evil while calling it good. The Church that is without spot or wrinkle will be the people who seek after the Kingdom of God and after the Righteousness that is associated with the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God both demands and prepares one to live in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit. After all, we must live righteously before God (the just shall live by faith), we must have a mind of peace that was found in Jesus Christ, and we must remember that our strength is the Joy of the LORD. Seeking after the Kingdom involves seeking after the will and plan of God, being joyful with His will being done in and through your life, and doing and seeing all of that while being filled and guided by the Holy Spirit. So, even as you may yet again quote Matthew 6:33, seriously ask yourself the question, “What Am I Seeking?”.
Beacon Of Flavor 