Matthew 6:33

Gloria Eberhart Matthew 6:33

Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (ESV)

Jesus calls his disciples to drop everything and follow Him, but we worry about what would happen if we obey fully, asking "but where will we live, what will we eat, and what will we drink, and what will we wear; what about my job, I have obligations to fulfill." Jesus is teaching us not to focus all our time and energy providing for the ordinary things of life, but to center our lives on our relationship with God.

Oswald Chambers, in his book of daily devotionals entitled My Utmost For His Highest, describes these words of Jesus as "having God's 'unreasonable' faith." That is an apt description, for who doesn't have concern about taking care of the day-to-day living. When Jesus tells us "do not worry about your life…", he is not saying to completely ignore our need for jobs, shelter, food, clothing, etc. - only a foolish person would do that. What he is teaching us is not to make those things the center of our existence, but to place our relationship with God first, and everything else second.

Mr. Chambers wraps up his commentary with is observation, "It is one of the most difficult, yet critical disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into absolute harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses."

"Great Is Thy Faithfulness" is one of my very favorite hymns. The words remind us of this teaching of Jesus in Matthew, "All I have needed, thy hand hath provided - Great is thy faithfulness. Lord, unto me." Amen!