Seek first the kingdom

Luk 12:27-34  Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  (28)  If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?  (29)  And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.  (30)  For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.  (31)  But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.  (32)  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  (33)  Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.  (34)  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Sometimes I feel like I have completely flip~flopped this passage…consider what I am going to eat and drink and wear, and then once I have all this settled, I think about the Kingdom a little bit.

God placed Adam here on Earth to bear His image, and establish God’s kingdom on earth by ruling over it for Him, trusting and obeying Him.  FAIL.

God then told Noah, after the Earth was covered with water and the waters had receded, to fill the earth with his offspring, who are God’s image-bearers as well as Adam and Eve were,  and subdue it…have dominion over it.  This is the same instruction He gave to Adam. FAIL.  Some deep wrong was commited by his son, and his son’s offspring became a curse, rather than a blessing.

God then told Abraham that He was going to establish His covenant in His character…and what was He going to do?  Give Abraham offspring that would be numberless, and bless all the world through him.  Same thing he told Adam to do.  The mission was still the same, all the way through.

Then He told the Israelites that He was going to be their king…establishing His kingdom, and then gave them the Levites as priests to the Israelites…and then He told them that they were all a kingdom of priests!  To whom?  To the world…so here is God establishing his rule, and telling the Israelites to be His image-bearers and carry His rule, as priests to all the earth.  FAIL.   They instead turned inward, hoarding God to themselves, and becoming proud of who they thought they were, but missing the whole point.

The came Christ, as the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, the fulfiller of the Mosaic covenant, bearing the image of the Father, and demonstrating Him to the world, while at the same time, redeeming the sinful traitors who had failed to obey the commands of God.

Christ came, bearing His image, and establishing God’s kingdom in the world, and by his death, burial and resurrection, blessing all the nations who believe in Him, who recognize their own dangerous situation as traitors, and gratefully rest the weight of their trust on the fulfilling righteousness of Christ who took their penalty.

Okay, so I am excited about this, and it comes back full circle to the verses at the beginning of this post.  Seek first His kingdom, be His image-bearers, and have dominion over what He has given us to rule for Him.  He is our head, and we are the head, under Him, on our homes.  We are there not to carry out our “kingdom ideas” but rather to recognize and submit to His authority in our home. 

Seek first the Kingdom of God in our homes, and for our families, and His righteousness, not worrying about what we are going to eat, drink or wear.

How do you think this works out in our lives?