by Dona Hake
Matthew 6:33
Easy-to-Read Version
“What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you
to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need.”
Easy-to-Read Version
“What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you
to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need.”
In this portion of scripture Jesus is teaching that our priority as a believer is to seek His kingdom first and His righteousness and all else will be taken care of. He was teaching that heavenly things are always more important than anything else. He well understands how things in this world can occupy our hearts and minds and cause us to lose site of the most important thing.
Prior to Him sharing this He spoke about worrying about being clothed. He spoke of the lilies of the field, and how they grow without care and they thrive. How much more will He take care of us? Yet we worry. In the life in which we live it always seems to be something to be tempted to pick up care about.
Jesus understands our weaknesses and our human nature, yet He commands us to cast our care, and wants us to do the most important thing, and that is to just seek Him first. Let us read some scriptures from the writings of Luke.
Luke 10:38-42
Easy-to-Read Version
“While Jesus and his followers were traveling, he went into a town, and a
woman named Martha let him stay at her house. She had a sister named
Mary. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him teach. But her
sister Martha was busy doing all the work that had to be done. Martha went
in and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the
work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are getting worried and
upset about too many things.”
Easy-to-Read Version
“While Jesus and his followers were traveling, he went into a town, and a
woman named Martha let him stay at her house. She had a sister named
Mary. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him teach. But her
sister Martha was busy doing all the work that had to be done. Martha went
in and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the
work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are getting worried and
upset about too many things.”
This story tells us once again that our Lord desires that we seek Him first. Mary understood this well, but poor Martha in all her good intentions did not understand. The cares of her duties were being placed before her doing the right thing. I do not believe Martha was wrong for wanting to serve, she went wrong in her serving by ending up carrying care, and then assuming that Mary needed to be doing the same. Mary understood that time needed to stop and she needed to sit at the feet of the Lord. Martha did not understand that she needed to set the work aside and sit before Jesus.
May we learn from this story of Mary and Martha. Let us seize the opportunities in which the Lord is desiring us to stop and hear what He has to say. Remember in your walk with Him that there is ONLY ONE THING THAT IS IMPORTANT and that is to seek Him first!