Kingdom-Minded

Matthew 6:33 - "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

I have devouring a series on this topic by Keith More all week, and it has gotten me to the point where I feel as if I could burst if not given the opportunity to act on it. Charismatic, Word of Faith, tongue-talkin' Christians love the "all things added" part of this verse - thinking of cars, houses, and all the glitz and glamour of heaven. Liturgical, Catholic, religiously-conservative types adore the "seek ye first" aspect, and assume that the "added" part is a loaf of bread and a burlap sack with holes for arms and head (not quite, but sometimes it sure does appear that way). It is kind of in-between.

"Kingdom business" is any and all things that advance God's purposes in this earth. This is not simply taking care of your family and occasionally helping out round your church. What I have learned this week is that these mindsets can actually hinder the progress God is endeavoring to accomplish in your life. My church; my family; my ministry. What are you actually living for when you get up in the morning? That will be a deciding factor in whether or not this Biblical promise comes to full fruition.

What we need to become increasingly aware of is that this world we live in will fade at some point. In Luke 12, Jesus tells this story again, and goes on to instruct us all to "make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys." Our eternal home is in heaven, and we are told that even here and now we are citizens of that kingdom (Ephesians 2:4-7). So, why are we constantly exerting ourselves to advance this earthly kingdom, rather than the one that will last forever? We lack faith...

Jesus promises as that all things will be taken care of for those who put His kingdom first. That means your every endeavor in life will be handled by God when you seek (strive after, plot, or invest in) His kingdom and purposes in the earth. Unfortunately, many Christians are not doing this. If anything in this world is in the top spot in your life, then God is not. "I live for my family" is not a Biblical attitude; it means God got moved into second-place. You cannot love anyone or anything more than the Lord. Remember these words of Jesus: "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:37). If you love anyone more than Jesus, you run a serious risk. Love Jesus more than anything. He will then ensure that you have more than enough time, energy and resources to cover every arena of your life. Seek first His kingdom.

Forgive the "mental puke" job on the screen; this has been blaring through my mind most of today. I am struck with how little I have actually considered the kingdom of God. Every time I have pictured the Lord putting large sums of money in my hands, I have dreamed of nothing more than getting my life and that of my family all put in order. That is backwards. The first thing we should do with any of our resources is consider how to invest it into the kingdom of God - be that our local church, a ministry organization, or helping out the widow(er) down the street. The church is nothing more than a part of the kingdom of God. He has so many ideas and desires He wants to accomplish, but He has chosen to use us as those vessels. So, if we do not act, He does not act (go read 1Corinthians about the Body of Christ and you will see that). Money, time, prayer... anything you can use He wants. This is an all-or-nothing job we are called to. Jesus rather you reject Him than play games with this (Revelation 3:15). Kingdom-minded means you wake up and think of ways to invest into the kingdom; it means you spend all day plotting ways to invest into the things of God; it means you lay down to go to sleep still envisioning ways to advance the plans and purposes of God. Even if you do not have a "ministry call" God expects this out of you. He will take care of everything when you make the decision to make everything in life a matter of kingdom-business. I want nothing more than to do that.  Now if I can only find a part of the kingdom that will actually let me work with them...