Seek First the Kingdom of God

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
[34] “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
(Matthew 6:25-34 ESV)

Anxiety. It’s what Jerry Bridges would call a “respectable sin.” Notes on a planner, the hands of a clock, the nightly news cast all beckon us to it. We attribute anxiety to our noble desire to be responsible and well-organized. Perhaps we even call it love. After all, we are willing to take upon ourselves paralyzing worry in order to ensure good is done to others. But Jesus calls anxiety something else. He calls it faithless. What’s more, Jesus declares, anxiety is an enemy of the kingdom of God. We will not seek Christ’s kingdom so long as we live in anxiety.

Eyes. “Look at the birds of the field,” Ever notice how many times the Gospels describe Jesus as looking, seeing, beholding, or how often he calls his disciples to see what they don’t see. There is so much to see, but anxiety is blindness. One of the greatest advantages of eyes is that unless I am looking into a mirror they must be fixed upon something other than me. They are ever looking out on the world and not in upon myself. But anxiety renders such a gift useless, for it consumes my mind with me. Anxiety blinds us from God’s care over the worry-free flowers and birds. It blinds us because it short circuits the path between eyes and mind. In anxiety I can only see problems without solutions, bills unpaid, the ticking of the clock, the terrors of the future. Everything else my eyes take in fades into oblivion.

The Moment. Anxiety keeps from us the moment. We must think of tomorrow, always tomorrow. And when tomorrow comes we must think of tomorrow. You cannot seek first the kingdom in anxiety because you cannot see what is front of you; you can only see yourself. You cannot act in the moment; you are too consumed with tomorrow. Jesus is not calling us to abstain from food and drink, from our most basic needs, but he does call us to stop worrying about them. Jesus is simply saying, “Are you hungry, thirsty, naked, cold? If yes, then eat, drink, put on a coat. If no, then live for the kingdom.” And if you say, “But what of tomorrow. What happens when I loose my job?” Jesus replies, “What of today? Will you waste the moment for a tomorrow you cannot control, for the tomorrow that I control? Will you not do my work today because you do not trust me with tomorrow?” Besides the answers for tomorrow are quite simple to solve. If you are hungry, eat something and seek the kingdom. If you are thirsty, drink something and do righteousness. If you are cold, put on a coat and love your neighbor.