"Seek the Kingdom of God"

THIS WEEK has been momentous! I've just learned such fascinating things! Let me tell you all about it.
Luke 12:29-31: "[29]And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. [30] For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. [31] But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."
I don't usually open with a Bible passage, but this is where it starts. Youth pastor Ryan cited this Luke 12:31 on Wednesday as he was explaining the importance of avoiding idolatry. This message stuck in my mind because of the very clear definition which was given for idols: "Anything that you could never live without. Something necessary for you to find fulfilment." I learned that anything, even a good thing, can become too important to us so that it becomes an idol. It's not necessarily a statue that you name and worship, like it can save you. It is anything which matters so much to you that it takes up your thoughts and your time. For example, I felt that I spent WAY too much of my thoughts on texting. I just get too excited when my phone makes the little 'plink' sound to tell me I got a text, and I know it. So I resolved to stop texting for one week. On Thursday I'll allow myself to text again.
I made this decision because I have been hit this week by a central theme: devotion. Chapter Nine in The Purple Book, which I look forward to discussing with my Life group next week since we couldn't meet this week, is about Faith and Hope. As I went through the five lessons I learned more about what faith does, and what it means to act on faith. On Wednesday, the same day I heard this message about idols and priorities, the theme of the lesson was "Faith and Obedience," dicussing the relationship between one's faith in God's promises and one's obedience to His commandments. I remember from AP European History the conflict which arose in the church (1500s?) over works and faith. Some said works were important because it demonstrates obedience. Some said faith was important because it is the source of salvation. This used to confuse me because for the life of me I could not tell who was quite right. But check out James 2:15-17 "[15] If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, [16] and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? [17] Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." James says that saying you have faith without actually acting upon it is like telling somebody to be relieved of all of their needs without actually giving them anything to fulfil their needs. So we need faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, to be with God, and works must follow for that faith to be worth anything. Jesus said in John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments." The reason any person with faith does works is because he loves God. After all, 'works' means actions corresponding to obedience to God.
Back to the passage I began with. Okay, so now I understood the relationship between works and faith. I must obey God's commandments out of faith in His promises. Jesus, God, commands that we "seek the kingdom of God" rather than seek after the little things we have going on in the world. He wants us to "seek the kingdom of God" instead of making idols for ourselves out of the things we think we need, the things we just have to have. He doesn't want us to depend on little things and spend our devotion on idols. But this phrase "seek the kingdom of God" stood out to me because it seems really, really important. It seems to summarize everything God wants us to do. And I needed to understand what it meant.
A little while ago, maybe 50 minutes ago actually, I was laying in my bed in quiet-time mode thinking about this. I decided I needed help understanding everything it means to "seek" God's kingdom. Having been baptized into His name and having resolved to follow Jesus, I needed to know just how to seek His kingdom.
I mean, I knew it meant complete devotion. I already knew it meant a commitment to put Him first and care most about what He wants. Pastor Russ put it this way last week: he said that our desire for God should "eclipse" all other desires. I love that. Everything I want must revolve around wanting God.
So there I was, trying to think of what exactly I should write about this week, and I asked Jesus aloud what it means to pursue His kingdom. I sat there and tried to listen. I felt like He was asking me then whether I would listen when He told me. Aloud I said I would. Then I felt He wanted me to open that Bible and take a look in there. I said okay, though I wasn't sure exactly how I'd find a section to answer my present question. I opened to Luke 21.
I did not understand for a minute exactly how relevant it is. The second time I looked at it I realized that God was opening my understanding in the most unexpected place. Luke 21:1-4 "[1] And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, [2] and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. [3] So He said, 'Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; [4] for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."
I know this story. I've seen it before. I never noticed what this had to do with pursuing God's kingdom. I never noticed what this had to do with real devotion. I found out exactly what it means to pursue the kingdom of God.
It means that God wants us to love Him enough to want to give all we have. It means to love Him enough to act on curiosity about Him and draw near to Him in sincere prayer and worship. It means to listen when He speaks and watch when He shows us something, and to obey when He commands. It means to love Him so much, and to want so much to please Him and give Him the glory He deserves, that it no longer matter what we must lose because we have so much more to gain in God.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is faith, by which we are saved by the grace of God. We then do works in accordance to God's commandments, and with that we pleae Him. But faith never becomes effective and active, never results in any works, until we love God enough to want to give all we have.
To give all we have for God may mean to lay aside a bad habit or throw away an idol; it may mean to suffer some form of ridicule, criticism, or persecution; it may mean we try to learn about Him at any opportunity; it may even mean we have to die. At Youth Quake Live, the season finale, on Friday I heard about a girl named Cassie who was shot at Columbine high school some years ago because she confessed that she had faith in God. They asked if she believed in God, she said yes, and they shot her.
This hit me because I wanted to be sure, absolutely sure, in the depths of my heart and mind, that my faith in God's promises and my love for God is strong enough so that I would say yes also. I absolutely, undoubtedly, truly and really believe in God and in His Son Jesus, God-with-us, Christ, the Messiah. It is useful to me to keep a circumstance like Cassie's in my head so I test myself and make sure that keeping my life on earth is never so important to me that I wouldn't gladly lose what I have here to be with God forever. Jim Elliot, who also died for Jesus' sake, wrote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
I am deeply interested in increasing my relationship with God. I want to listen when He speaks and look at what He shows me.
I will now take a quote from my beautiful (and consecutive) cousin Rinabean, whose blog is quite marvelous and insightful ( http://zee-em-sea.blogspot.com/ ) : "God has a different, better, more wonderful plan for you than you could ever dream up yourself. It'll hurt at first...but once you've been purified, He'll make you more sensitive to the things He wants to tell you. You'll be able to hear His voice more clearly once He's cleaned all the gunk out of your ears. We're not called to be normal or content with the world in its current state...or any state, now that I think about it. We're supposed to have our minds set on eternity, which isn't easy." I'm interested in figuring out where it gets hard, because then I know something good's happening. I pray for the opportunity to do something difficult, something a little uncomfortable, because then I know some walls are coming down.
I'm so glad God gave me this insight. I look forward to seeing what He has planned for me. It's probably going to hurt at times, but with faith in His promises I'll be able to remember that He loves me, and sends trouble to strengthen me and teach me and bring me closer to Him. I want to do things I haven't been doing, and I want to stop doing things I shouldn't be doing. I'm glad that God made a way for us to come to Him by coming to us.
I am thinking of a song by my favorite band, Casting Crowns, of course. "To Know You." I've only ever heard it like once. Here are the lyrics if you want to see them. http://www.lyricsreg.com/lyrics/casting+crowns/To+Know+You/
I love you and I thank you for reading this special post. I'm excited to have written it and I hope you have enjoyed it. God bless, and I hope you see miracles everywhere this week and every day.