Note: This is my first time trying to publish a full blog post on 
I've been spending a lot of time on Matthew 6:33 these days. For years my favorite bible verse was always Proverbs 16:18 (...pride goeth before destruction...) but Matthew 6:33 has really pulled me in.
If you aren't familiar with this verse, here it is:
The context is Jesus preaching in the middle of the 'Sermon on the Mount' and letting His listeners know that they need not be anxious. And there are two words in this verse that has really hit home with me recently...
Kingdom
Righteousness
And because of that, I started doing some word studies on these words throughout scripture to see what God wants to bring across to us. Jesus is saying seek God's kingdom first above all else, and His righteousness...The end result will be a sanctified life.
Of course, the more time you spend in God's word, patterns start to emerge. And during my daily devotional last night, this verse came up from Proverbs the 11th chapter:
Now at first glance, we only see one of the words from Matthew 6:33 that I've been diving into. However when you don't 'surface read' the bible, you can see both of them. Let's break this down...
Righteousness by faith is the work of Christ. Nothing we can do to earn salvation or even try to put on the robes of righteousness either. However we are told that we should be seeking it along with the Kingdom of God. They go hand in hand.
So being delivered from death is....The great hope! The resurrection. So now we have some context on why these two things should be front and center on our mind.
But look at Proverbs, it's saying that when the Lord comes a second time, which is the day of wrath, the amount of money you have will mean absolutely nothing. Zero! However most of the people on planet earth are after the money, instead of....The Kingdom of God and His Righteousness!
I think this is almost a life hack of sorts. Christ is telling us how to be delivered from the time of trouble, which by all accounts, seems to be getting closer and closer. And we do that by focusing on Him. Like I mentioned in my post from last week, I know I'm guilty of being a lukewarm Laodicean. And sadly that's how the bulk of Christendom appears...We are rich, in need of nothing, we're blameless...
But is that what Revelation 3 says?
We are filthy rags. Wretched. Blind. Naked.
Until we.......And here's the 'money shot'....
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His robes of righteousness. And once we do that, we can be ready for anything the world might throw at us.
