“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and
all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:33
Freedom requires a Kingdom of God focus. When we have a Kingdom focus, we take a step back and make the choice to see life from a big-picture perspective. This involves seeing the events of life from the context of eternity as opposed to our days here on earth. When we live with Kingdom focus, our goals change. Our life is no longer about living happily ever after like the world’s definition of freedom. Rather, our life becomes a passionate pursuit of righteous living as we live our lives for Jesus Christ, no matter what. The result of living with Kingdom focus is found in one word—freedom!
You see, when we live with Kingdom focus, we are set free from living for the trappings of this world. For many years, I lived for the world’s trappings—the perfect house, the perfect car, the perfect marriage, the perfect kids, and the perfect bank account to fund all my dreams. You can imagine how exhausted I was by trying to chase the “American dream.” May I share my findings with you? Pursuing the “American dream” did not produce freedom. Instead, it produced bondage. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus gave a clear instruction: “Seek first the Kingdom of God.” This verse, nestled beautifully within the Sermon on the Mount, draws a line in the sand when it comes to Kingdom focus. This verse teaches that we cannot focus on two kingdoms. Either we will live for God’s eternal Kingdom or we will live for the world’s earthly kingdom. In God’s eyes, we can't live for both.
Living for God’s eternal Kingdom produces freedom because it challenges us to see life from God’s perspective, and we realize God promises to take care of us. Allow me to show you this truth in Scripture. A few verses prior to Matthew 6:33, Jesus shared why believers can focus on His Kingdom. Matthew 6:25 and 32 state, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear... For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”
So what should the believer do instead of worry? Verse 33 provides the answer: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
When we seek God and live for His Kingdom, we receive everything He deems necessary for our time on this earth. Therefore, we do not have to worry about tomorrow or the day after that or the day after that. Instead, each day we are free to faithfully seek the Lord. This seeking process becomes the very heart of our life as we experience Jesus’ freedom by daily forsaking the natural tendency to worry about what we will eat, what we will drink, or what we will wear. Instead we will thrive as we seek first His Kingdom and know in our hearts that God will take care of us!
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