"SEEK HIS KINGDOM!"

Luke 12:22-31               (ESV)
"22 And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.
23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet GOD feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!
25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?
27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 But if GOD so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!
29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.
30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
31 Instead, SEEK HIS KINGDOM, and these things will be added to you."


GOD has been in recent days dealing with me about being "ANXIOUS".  No one wants to admit anxiety.  We all seem to want to give the appearance of being in control and have everything going our way.  But is that really the case?

It seems I have always been "high strung", to put it plainly.  I have always been one to want to see how much I could do toward whatever goal I was working toward.  While playing softball, I would not sleep well after a loss, trying to figure out what I could have done to be better in the field.  When I started selling insurance, I would not sleep well after not closing a sale, trying to figure out how I could have been more successful in the sales process.  I have always sought "after these things", as JESUS said in verse 30.

There is a huge difference in wanting to improve yourself and punishing yourself for not being good enough.  The enemy, who is the master of deceit, can disguise greed as self improvement.   The enemy will cause us to journey as far down "self improvement" road that we lose sight of our "PRIZE" (Philippians 3:14).

But JESUS tells us over and over in scripture that our focus should NOT be on the things of this world.  In Matthew 6:19-24 JESUS tells us to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven".  I have yet to find where JESUS instructed anyone to have a big bank account or a mansion on an estate. GOD is most interested in our hearts and who we serve.  When we "SEEK HIS KINGDOM", HE is ready make sure "these things will be added to you."  HIS words, not mine!