“ALL THESE THINGS!”

Matthew 6:25-33                                             (ESV)

“25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about YOUR LIFE, what you will EAT or what you will DRINK, nor about your BODY, what you will PUT ON. Is not life more than FOOD, and the body more than CLOTHING?

26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly FATHER feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

28 And why are you anxious about CLOTHING? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,

29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 But if GOD so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will HE not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your Heavenly FATHER knows that you need them all.

33 But seek FIRST the KINGDOM OF GOD and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, and “ALL THESE THINGS” will be added to you.”

For the longest I have read Matthew 6:33 seeing “ALL THESE THINGS” as anything my heart desired!  Could it be that Psalms 37:4 (“Delight yourself in the LORD, and HE will give you the desires of your heart) was clouding my perception of what I wanted Scripture to be GIVING ME?  

A good while back, during a study at the fellowship I attend, I was introduced to the phrase “Providence vs Possession”.  Since then I have looked at everything through a different prism, trying to SEE what GOD has for me rather than what was in obedience for my gain.  

JESUS spoke Matthew 6:33 during an almost three chapter “sermon”.  At least for me, seek FIRST the KINGDOM OF GOD and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS should be a totally separate verse!  We have the tendency to become so fixated on “what’s in it for us” that we can’t receive what GOD is trying to say to us in SEEK FIRST the KINGDOM OF GOD.  Sometimes I want others to believe that I am seeking HIM (or HIS Providence) instead of being satisfied with having HIM ( being HIS Possession)!  

When JESUS Possesses someone, the “desires of their hearts” will reflect HIS POSSESSION.  The term “ALL THESE THINGS” in Matthew 6:33 was referring to YOUR LIFE, FOOD, DRINK and CLOTHING, according to the Scriptures directly preceding.  We tend to DESIRE the things of “this world” and JESUS is directing us to be focused on SEEKING HIS KINGDOM FIRST!  Colossians 1:15-19 says HE made EVERYTHING!  Allowing JESUS to Possess our lives gives us “ALL THESE THINGS”, and so much more!!!