Many Christians today know about the Kingdom of God, but don’t experience it very much. Yet, according to Jesus, seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness must be the defining priority of our lives. We begin a new series in Read Moore, working our way through the book, The Kingdom Turn. Today’s excerpt is from pages 13 and 14:
“The Kingdom of God is the concrete pursuit which enables us to act on and toward the priority of glorifying God in all things. The Kingdom presents prospects for what our lives might be that help us to organize our time and activities so that ‘seeking the Kingdom’ defines us in everything we do.
“Jesus wants us to know God and to glorify Him, and He says that the way to do this is to ‘seek first’ the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
“But in this case, seeking the Kingdom of God is not a matter of doing first things first. Seeking the Kingdom is not just the first thing on the Christian’s daily to-do list. Seeking the Kingdom is a first-things-always proposition, so that whatever is on our to-do list on any given day, whatever our prospects, seeking the Kingdom is the first things pursuit which defines and directs everything else we do.
“Going to work today? Seek the Kingdom. Taking the kids to the library? Seek the Kingdom. Going for a walk? Working out at the gym? Taking a test at school? Seek the Kingdom. Everything in our lives – every moment of every day – is an arena for seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seeking the Kingdom is first things first and always, the defining pursuit of all who have made the Kingdom turn.”
Questions for reflection or discussion
1. What role has the Kingdom of God played in your Christian life to this point?
2. How would you explain the Kingdom of God to a new believer?
We need to get this right; we need to understand the Kingdom before we can seek it. That seems to have been top of the list in Jesus’ earthly ministry, so we need to make sure it has that place in our lives as well. Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together to discuss it. Share it with several friends and encourage them to join you in subscribing to Read Moore for Monday through Friday each week. You can order The Kingdom Turn from The Ailbe Bookstore.
T. M. Moore
