One of the most popular and familiar verses to Christians is found in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” We often hear this verse, and perhaps we even recite it frequently. Yet the serious question we must ask is this: have we truly experienced the realization of this verse? By saying “seek first,” the Lord Jesus emphasizes that we must prioritize, value, and make the Kingdom of God our foremost concern. The question is: how important has the Kingdom of God really been in our lives so far?
Before that, we must first wrestle with this: do we actually understand what is meant by the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Ironically, even though this verse is so popular and familiar—often on our lips—its realization is usually unclear. What’s worse, when we fail to live out this verse, we still feel calm, safe, and even comfortable, while this is dangerous. Such a condition reveals the success of the powers of darkness in blinding the eyes of our hearts and minds.
In reality, how extraordinary is the life of believers as God’s chosen people, given the opportunity to know His Kingdom and His righteousness. Not everyone has this opportunity. The phrase “seek first” implies struggle, effort, and earnestness to obtain it. Remember, not everyone is part of the chosen people. May God open our minds so that we truly grasp how precious this calling is.
Before the world was created, God had already planned us as His chosen people. But this does not mean we automatically succeed. It does not mean we automatically enter heaven. If it were automatic, Scripture would not need to say “seek first.” The very fact that we are commanded to seek proves that there is a struggle we must endure. Ironically, our struggles are often misdirected. More tragically, many churches fail to teach what is essential, fundamental, clear, and absolutely must be the focus of our lives. As a result, the powers of darkness succeed in diverting believers from the “eternal project” toward “counterfeit projects” that have no eternal value.
Hebrews 12:1 reminds us that there is a mandatory race. Yes, there are many races in human life: school, college, career, marriage, raising children, building a house, and acquiring life’s facilities. These are all good, but they are not the mandatory race. The compulsory race of the children of God is to obey His will, which is true faith: faith expressed in behavior that is ordered according to His will, which is what the Lord Jesus truly meant in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” So then, how can we live with the awareness of being people of the Kingdom?
On earth, we are citizens of a nation. As citizens of Indonesia, for example, we must live by the foundation of the country, Pancasila, and the 1945 Constitution. The government works to shape people into citizens who live by those values. Likewise, as children of God, we must embrace our identity as Kingdom people. God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is our Father who sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem our sins. Therefore, we are called to live as people of the Kingdom, as written in 1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Let us open our minds and hearts to embrace the reality that we are a Kingdom people, working on the eternal project.