What We Seek

The Bible gets blamed for all kinds of delusional thinking.  We tend to misunderstand for a variety of reasons, and chief among them is our propensity to read into it what we already think and then extract a sentence or two that upholds our view.  In this way, many unwittingly re-create a god of their own making…rather than allowing it to speak for itself and form the lyrics of truth from God’s anthem to our own.

This morning’s example of this is an often misquoted passage from the end of Matthew chapter 6:

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:31-33

Seems like a really great deal, right?  Taken by itself, it seems to be a promise…one that is very self-explanatory and amazing.  However, do you see that first word?  “SO”….This implies that it’s looking back to what was just said.  Anytime you see something like that, you’d better read the part before so you’re sure that you’re understanding the purpose of what you’re reading.  Here’s the full section, which is often broken up into 2 sections in our modern Bibles.  Here, read the full section (Matthew 6:19-34):

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of Godd above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

So you see, this section is not about getting all our nutritional and clothing needs met.  It’s about focusing our “seeking” on our relationship with God rather than the needs of today & tomorrow.  There is an aspect of promise in there, however, it’s not the point…and it surely isn’t meant to be instructing us to approach God with our daily needs as if He were our person Genie to meet all our needs.  It’s about having different framework than the corrupted, materialistic world around us.  It’s about teaching us what truly makes us content.   It’s about the connection between WORRY and DESIRE.  It’s an object lesson to teach us that “If I only had _____ I would be happy” doesn’t actually produce the contentment we seek.  I’ll leave you with this:

“I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13)