Matthew 6:33

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 ESV). To seek is an attempt to find and implies action on our part, but what kind of action? Our first impression is that we are to go looking for something, but if we read the material that comes before this verse we find the context begs our action to be prayer with what we seek being given as a gift from God. To understand this verse, we need to go back to the beginning of chapter 5 where Jesus begins a major presentation to his disciples.

A quick review yields the following: Our potential blessings (5:3-12); We are salt and light (5:13-16); Our righteousness is to surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees (5:17-20); Required lifestyle (5:21-6:6); How to pray (6:7-15); How to fast (6:16-17); Additional behavior and attitude (6:18-34).

In 5:3, Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven, but here in our verse, he makes it more personal by speaking of the kingdom of God. But what is the kingdom of God? I have struggled for several days to form a simple definition. Here is my best for now: The kingdom of God is a great multitude of people chosen by God the Father and caused to be born again and placed under the loving care and rule of our savior, king and high priest and given a joint responsibility with Jesus of overseeing God’s creation. For additional notes on kingdom of God go here.

To seek the kingdom of God is to seek to be a Christian through belief in Jesus Christ and being born again. This is the first step. The second step according to our verse is to seek his righteousness. This is the process of sanctification; the process of working out our salvation. As we journey through life we are to become like Jesus.

In addition to seeking to become a member of God’s kingdom through belief in and surrender to Jesus Christ, we are to seek his righteousness. As we earnestly seek to become like Jesus and replace our righteousness with that of his, Jesus then promises that all these things will be given to us a gifts, but what are “these things”? These things are found in chapter 5 and 6 and include such things as: blessings, salt and light, ability to love our enemy, overcoming anger and lust, the ability to turn revenge over to God, desire to pray, desire to lay up treasure in heaven, overcoming anxiety by him meeting our needs. Walking with Jesus Christ is a life changing experience as we become a new creation with old things passing away.

Prayer

Father, I realize that I really didn't understand this verse when I first started to write about it, but after prayer and thinking about the context of the verse, an understanding began to form and I began to get excited over what I was learning. In the past I never connected salvation to seek and his righteousness as that which we receive from Jesus Christ through salvation. Then it became clear that those things pertain to what is available to us from our relationship with Jesus. Thank you for giving me this understanding.