First Thing First

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. - Matthew 6:33


A seminar leader wanted to make an important point, so he took a wide-mouth jar and filled it with rocks. "Is the jar full?" he asked. "Yes," came a reply. "Oh, really?" he said. Then he poured smaller pebbles into the jar to fill the spaces between the rocks. "Is it full now?" "Yes," said someone else. "Oh really?" He then filled the remaining spaces between the rocks and stones with sand. "Is is full now?" he asked. "Probably not," said another, to the amusement of the audience. Then he took a pitcher of water and poured it into the jar.

"What's the lesson we learn from this?" he asked. An eager participant spoke up, "No matter how full the jar is, there's always room for more." "Not quiet," said the leader. "The lesson is: to get everything in the jar, you must always put the big things in first."

Jesus proclaimed a similar principle in the Sermon on the Mount. He knew that we waste our time worrying about the little things that seem so urgent but crowd out the big things of eternal value. "Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things," Jesus reminded His hearers. "But seek first kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matt 6:32-33).

What are you putting first in your life? - Dennis J. De Haan


Make It Practical
* Always pray before planning
* Always love people more than things
* Do all thing to please God

Those who lay up treasures in heaven are the richest people on earth.

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Matthew 6:25-34

Therefore, I tell you, don't be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

See the birds of the sky, that they don't sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you of much more value than they?

"Which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit to the measure of his life? Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin, yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won't he much more clothe you, you of little faith?

"Therefore don't be anxious, saying, 'What will we eat?', 'What will we drink?' or, 'With what will we be clothed?' For the Gentiles seek all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

But seek first God's Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore don't be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day's own evil is sufficient.

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