Wednesday, October 18, 2017

 
 
Devotional for Wednesday, October 18, 2017
“But First…”
 
 
seek first his kingdom
 
 
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.”
 
 
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 more important than anything else. Oh how this world can occupy our hearts and minds and cause us to lose sight of the most important things.
 
Prior to Jesus 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 on their own. How much more will He take care of us?…yet we worry.    Remember Jesus understands our weaknesses and our human nature, but He  commands us to cast our care, and wants us to do the most important thing, and that is to  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.”
 
 
This story tells us that our Lord desires that we seek Him first setting aside anything that would distract our love and worship toward Him. Mary understood this well, but poor Martha in all her good intentions did not understand.  She thought for sure that Jesus needed to rebuke Mary for not thinking about helping her .  Martha’s cares proceeded from placing her serving above her worship of Jesus. I do not believe Martha was wrong for wanting to serve but it was her wrong attitude that caused her to misplace her priorities.     Her focus was so much on what needed to be done, and then anxiety began to rule her heart and rob her of her peace.   “Lord, don’t you care?…” she spoke in frustration.   Of course she knew her Lord cared about her but her worries and cares were causing her to react improperly and cast wrong judgments .    Martha’s sister Mary understood that she needed to cease from her work, and  sit at the feet of the Lord for it was the time to do so.   Martha problem was her struggle with laying the work aside and sitting quietly and listening to  her Lord.
 

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.   May we make it a priority to sit quietly before Him that we may receive from His hand of provision.  Remember in your walk with Him that there is ONLY ONE THING THAT IS IMPORTANT and that is to seek Him first!