His Kingdom and His Righteousness

But seek first HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness, and ALL these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33 NIV

Seeking His Kingdom and His Righteousness

All our supply, which sustains our life, is given by seeking HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness. Everything we need to live this life is supplied through this pursuit. ALL these things are ALL the things needed to maintain our lives. This is not everything I WANT but certainly everything I need! And for those of us who have occasionally seen God as a miserly withholder, our need is not just the minimal requirements to scrape by in life. Our Father is our abundant supplier, a Supplier beyond ALL that we can ask or think. For the man or woman who seeks Jesus’ kingdom and righteousness, everything needed to live a kingdom lifestyle will be provided.

In a world that seeks personal fulfillment and instant gratification, this is harder to do than it would seem. To seek HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness is the denial of SELF. This seeking is done by being His disciple. And to be a disciple, the Amplified Bible says we must: disown self, to forget, to lose sight of self and our own interests, to refuse and give up completely our self.

Not My Kingdom, His Kingdom

The “seeking” the book of Matthew is speaking of here is not my kingdom and my righteousness but HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness. Many attempt a righteous path. I’ve even sought to BE righteous myself through right acts, but this inevitably ends in failure. I’ve witnessed many building their own kingdoms, just as I’ve sought to build mine, hoping for the God-housekeeping seal of approval. Yet all my righteous deeds and acts of kingdom building have been farces and fairytales. To seek HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness is to seek His very own LIFE. Amazing! In His Life is true Life, and in my self-pursuit I can’t find life at all.

Living by His Righteousness

Worry can plague us, day in and day out. Our doubts can ride us, convincing us that we will not have what we need to live. And I believe this is not just material supply. It isn’t just clothing, shelter, and food, it’s the supply of everything needed for relationship with God – hunger for God, desire for holiness, and purity of thought. The promise of God in Matthew is that if we will but seek His kingdom and His righteousness, which is found in His Life, we will have everything for life and godliness. The key to this promise and all other promises is Christ, Himself.

He has by His own action given us everything that is necessary for living the truly good life, in allowing us to know the one who has called us to Him, through His own glorious goodness. It is through Him that God’s greatest and most precious promises have become available to us men, making it possible for you to escape the inevitable disintegration that lust produces in the world and to share in God’s essential nature.
2 Peter 1:3-4 Phillips