New clothes, recipes, friends, a new job, money, acceptance, approval, your keys? The list goes on as we look for things everyday. I haven’t kept track of everything I look for in a given day but I’m sure it would be a longer list than I imagine. Just this morning I went looking for my Bible, ginger, cinnamon sticks, my shoes, and of course, snacks. I'm sure snacks are on the top of my list everyday. Try this exercise. Make a list of the things you remember looking for in the past few hours. You may be surprised. We are all looking, all the time.
One of my favorite Bible verses uses a different word for look, “seek.”
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)
I love that the verse does not tell us, “Stop it! You don’t need any of that! You only need Me!!” We pray that way sometimes though, don’t we? “Oh God, You’re all I need.” I don’t mean to step on toes, but that’s just really not true. We do need food, well, in my case snacks. We do need clothing. We do need other people, and in this world we do need money. I know that when we pray those words, what we likely mean is that we need God above all else and that’s what the scripture in Matthew 6 is all about. That chapter does not say not to seek things, it tells not to worry about the things and to prioritize what we are seeking. God's stuff first, and other stuff will come. In Revelation 2, the Lord told the church at Ephesus that they had gotten their priorities askew and actually left their first love, the Lord. That verse always leads me to pause and ponder where I am spiritually. Am I connecting to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each day? Am I reading the Bible, spending time in prayer and fellowship with Jesus, listening, and worshipping?
What are you looking for today? Look first, seek first God, His kingdom, and His righteousness and ALL… Stop right there! ALL? ALL is a big word that means the whole number of things on your list or to the greatest degree! ALL these things will be added to you. I pray for a breakthrough in our undistracted, prioritized seeking of the Lord so that first, we know Him more, and second, we experience the ALL that He wants to add to our lives.
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