Fancy starting a topic with the word “And.” It is a deliberate act to signal that we will be making a big shift. By now, you know that every promise of God, even salvation, has a trigger. This is a shift from the “if” to the “and” trigger. Moving away from the “if” trigger, we are now in the series of the “and” trigger, as in, “you will do this and God will do that.” The trigger we want to consider in this post is in Matthew 6.33. It says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
This was Jesus teaching His disciples then, and us, now. Like most of Jesus’s teaching, you have to think twice before getting its full meaning. Like, for instance, how do you seek the kingdom of God? You reckon that, unless you know what Jesus is asking you to do, you may not be able to give it priority. And all these things are beckoning you, and so, you keep searching.
What is the kingdom of God? You may discover that it is the power of God to change lives both now and in a future dwelling with God in Heaven, and it is available to all who would put their trust in Jesus. Now that we know the Kingdom of God is about power, how do we seek it? Asked a different way, what happened to make you come to a saving knowledge of that power? Well, somebody did something that brought you to the Kingdom.
And All These Are What Exactly?
Go and do likewise, and all these things shall be added to you. We do that by whatever means God affords us. Some serve from the pulpit, others at bus stops, still others by blogging or creating reels. Do that as a priority, and all these things shall be added to you. It is a promise of God, which means it never fails, since God is faithful.
Now, you may not be sure what the things in that verse refer to. An earlier verse should help sort that out. Jesus had been teaching these men for some time and saw that their main concerns revolved around material things. None of them thought about Heaven and how to get there. To them, that was too woolly.
Like most of us, their attitude was “Let us enjoy life, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry. For this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.” It was no different from that of a wise king before them.
And if we are honest, most of us worry about the same things. Matthew 6.31 contains those things that God shall add to us as we put His kingdom first. They are the questions we wake up with and go to bed with each day: ‘What shall we eat?’ ‘What shall we drink?’ ‘What shall we wear?’
So, Jesus warned them against behaving like unbelievers. We have a different strategy to obtain so much more, and all these things. The believers’ strategy is not to worry but to prioritize the kingdom of God. While others are slaving away at gathering stuff, you are populating the kingdom of God. How cool
Paul Understood The Essence Of Stuff
Following up on Jesus’s teaching on the things about which we worry, Paul has his own advice. In 1 Timothy 6:8, he said, “and having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” That is truly the essence of material wealth, and all these things which shall be added to us. Billionaires would laugh at that, but they cannot eat two meals at a time, nor put on two outfits at once.
If they tried to do that, people would conclude there was something wrong with them. Or, else they would develop chronic diseases. So Jesus says to you and me, why worry? Go out and build the kingdom of God, and all these things that cause billionaires to lose sleep shall be added to you.
You want stuff and all these things? Serve God. Of course, to serve Him acceptably, you must have been adopted into His family through Jesus Christ.
Maranatha!
