The Cart Before the Horse

Matthew 6:25-34

²⁵Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

²⁶Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

²⁷Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

²⁸And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

²⁹And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

³⁰Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

³¹Therefore 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.

³³But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

³⁴Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

There is a lot of good meat in these verses, but I want to focus on verse 33. It is probably the most well-known verse in this passage, but sometimes I think a few things get overlooked. Let's look at it again:  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

What things shall be added? If you go back to verse 25 and read up to verse 33, you'll find out. What things? All of the things that we are worried about! What are we going to eat? What are we going to wear? How are we going to pay the bills? These are all important questions, but more than that, they are questions that can cause us to lose our focus.

This verse tells us that if we will keep our priorities straight (i.e. - focus on accomplishing God's will), God will meet all our needs. Maybe not all our wants, but definitely all our needs.

But, when faced with so many questions and uncertainties, it's so easy to get distracted. It's so tempting to start scheming and plotting to find "the answers." The funny thing is that we know the answer. It's right in front of us. We just fail to do it. Why? Honestly, because sometimes it's not as easy as it sounds, but that's not a very good excuse. Is it?

So, as we face the questions and problems of today, let's try to "seek first the kingdom of God." Then, everything else will fall into place. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen. We have God's Word on it!

***** Excerpt from Random Ramblings of a Raving Redhead *****