To Seek part 3
I want to link together two Bible verses that I think will really help us with this idea that seeking is something WE are supposed to do. The first one is Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Now before we go any further I just want to touch on what "all these things" that "shall be added unto you" are. And quite simply, it's the natural things of life. What to eat and drink. What to wear. The bare necessities, as they say. And Jesus told us not to seek after those things. Don't worry so much about the general, day to day part of living. Because, as any Father who loves His Son would do... Daddy's got our back. He provides for us. He takes care of us. These things that we spend so much of our time, talent, and treasure trying to get really aren't that important in the grand scheme of things. (And I'm not saying we don't need them. Of course we do. I'm simply saying it's not on US to GET them.) Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Have your focus in the right place and you'll see everything else is already lined up in divine order. We don't have to put it into divine order. Jesus already did. Ok. Now my other verse, which I sometimes think is way too radical for us to even begin to understand. Luke 17:21, "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." When we run around like chickens with our heads cut off, looking for something we think we don't have, we totally miss it. When we try to enter the sheepfold any other way but through the door we rob ourselves of the gift we've been given. It's not somewhere else, and we need to seek it in order to find it. It's within. And we need to seek it in order to understand it. Not to get it, but to see what we've already got! The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, right? So seeking the Kingdom and His righteousness is really the same thing. And it's within. Because the Kingdom is within. Because we are the temple of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost lives... INSIDE us. So rather than looking here and there and everywhere, trying to find something outside of ourselves, we need to start looking within. Looking into the heart. Because God is love. So the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Love. And even my four year old son can tell you... love lives in our heart. God is love, His name is Jesus, and He lives in our heart. That's the foundation that we build on. That's the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. And everything in between. This never-ending abundant, eternal, everlasting, Resurrection Life-long journey into the heart of the matter is NOT a journey of getting something. He did it all so we could get it all. And now we have it all. We have been blessed with ALL Spiritual blessings in Him. We have been given ALL things that pertain to life and godliness. Even those basics like food and drink. Given. Because it's our Father's good pleasure to GIVE US the Kingdom. He poured out His Spirit on all flesh. He doesn't just come on people in power anymore like in the Old Testament. And it isn't just Emmanuel, God WITH us, anymore. It's God WITHIN us. The Kingdom WITHIN us. So when we're seeking the Kingdom we must understand that JESUS came to seek and to save that which was lost. He found us. And that's why we can find Him (even though He was never lost. Even when we hid from His presence His promise to never leave us nor forsake us remained). He reveals Himself to us. And He reveals Himself in us, and through us, and as us! What we're seeking is what we've already got! Just like in the Wizard of Oz. When we come to the end of the yellow brick road (the higway of holiness) we find that we had what we were looking for all along. And now that we know that we have it, we can begin to enjoy it. We can share it with those around us who don't know that they have it too. We can receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it! We can look inside and let what's in there overflow naturally by filling ourselves with the fulness of His love!