But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33
All of humanity is seeking after something; whether it be love, peace, purpose, significance, fun, happiness, etc. As Christians, people who have been redeemed by God and given the Holy Spirit, we are to be seekers of God and His righteous ways in our life. It’s not that we do not desire other things, it is just that the primary focus and concern of our soul should be on the Lord and His will. One of the surest signs of our salvation and belonging to God is a hunger to know Him more, and to live to bring Him glory. This hunger and drive should lead us to read our Bible, pray, worship with the body of Christ, and serve the Lord. If we do not have this desire in us, it is a sign of spiritual unhealthiness, or being lost altogether; God is not our priority, and we have allowed other concerns, and even idols, to replace Him in our life. We should make the choice each day as we first get up, to surrender to God and His purposes. As each day goes by, we need to take every opportunity to draw closer to Him and to be entirely His.
Perhaps the following example will be of use: This last week, I covered a large hole I noticed in the maple tree in our front yard. I nailed some sheet metal over the hole to keep out any animals that may want to make a home out of it. The next day, I noticed all the bark stripped off around the sheet metal as if something was trying very hard to get in the hole. As I was looking at the tree, a mother squirrel showed up and began clawing at the bark and metal frantically. Suddenly, little squirrel heads and feet stuck out of the crack between the bark and the metal in response to the mother squirrel. Well, needless to say, within a few minutes I was up the ladder bending the nails and metal away from the hole to open it up. As I was up 20 feet in the air on the ladder, the mother squirrel was about two feet away from me keeping a very close eye on what I was up to. As soon as I opened up the hole, the mother squirrel darted in to be reunited with her babies. This squirrel was on a mission and was focused on what was important to her! My friends, we should have a similar focus on our Lord who died for us so we could be forgiven and set free from sin, death and the devil. We should be relentless and sacrificial in our efforts to know and please God. Are we? Does our use of time, energy and resources give evidence of this? If not, may we repent and commit all to the Lord, as He is worthy of our best, not our leftovers!
Pastor Gary Houdek
