Seek First The Kingdom of God no. 36

“So if you were raised along with the Messiah, then seek the things above, where the Messiah is sitting at the right hand of God. Focus your minds on the things above, not on things here on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. When the Messiah, who is our life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory!

Therefore, put to death the earthly parts of your nature — sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed (which is a form of idolatry); for it is because of these things that God’s anger is coming on those who disobey him. True enough, you used to practice these things in the life you once lived; but now, put them all away — anger, exasperation, meanness, slander and obscene talk. Never lie to one another; because you have stripped away the old self, with its ways, and have put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in fuller and fuller knowledge, closer and closer to the image of its Creator. The new self allows no room for discriminating between Gentile and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, foreigner, savage, slave, free man; on the contrary, in all, the Messiah is everything” (Colossians (Col) 3:1-11). It isn’t enough to say that something is true. I have to live my life like it is true. And too often we like to say that we believe in Jesus. We like to identify ourselves as one of His people because that is much easier than living a life like Jesus. Living a life like Jesus is thankless and difficult. Living a life like Jesus involves doing things we don’t like. Living a life like Jesus means our own death. It’s so much easier to not change anything in your life and just say you believe.

“Do not store up for yourselves wealth here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and burglars break in and steal. Instead, store up for yourselves wealth in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and burglars do not break in or steal. For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also” (Mattityahu (Mat) 6:19-21).

“As for those who do have riches in this present world, charge them not to be proud and not to let their hopes rest on the uncertainties of riches but to rest their hopes on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Charge them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and ready to share. In this way they will treasure up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may lay hold of the real life” (1 Timothy (1 Ti) 6:17-19).

Some of us are still grinding away for money. The funny thing is that money today in America has no innate value. It has an abstract value based on make believe. Wealth is a game that we can choose to play or not. It is a delusion that we can share in playing. In days past money was propped up with materials like gold and silver BUT today it is supported by oil and blood. It’s a charade. And so many of us are chasing our tails for this dream when we can have something better. We can live like we believe what Jesus said. We can live out His Kingdom. We can “. . . do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and ready to share” or we can say that we believe.

Seek first His Kingdom which rests on the foundation of love.Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #NotMyWayYHWH

Seek First The Kingdom of God no. 34

“When he comes, he will show that the world is wrong about sin, about righteousness and about judgment — about sin, in that people don’t put their trust in me; about righteousness, in that I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; about judgment, in that the ruler of this world has been judged” (Yochanan (Jhn) 16:8-11). The world is wrong about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment. It sure is. And Christians have to be concerned that our views of sin, righteousness, and judgment are still right. Too often we adopt and adapt our understanding of sin, righteousness, and judgment to better align with our lives in the world. Too often our sinful nature corrupts our ideas of righteousness and judgment, leaving us with a distorted view of who the Father is without viewing Him through the revelation of the Son and the guidance of the Spirit of Truth. A little later in this conversation, Jesus explains, “. . . when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative but will say only what he hears. He will also announce to you the events of the future. He will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and announce it to you. Everything the Father has is mine; this is why I said that he receives from what is mine and will announce it to you” (Yochanan (Jhn) 16:13-15). We need the Truth of the Spirit through the revelation of Jesus, however, too often we discard His Truth. Too often we don’t take Him for what He says. Too often we want to forget His teaching BUT He told us all these things, “. . . so that you won’t be caught by surprise” (Yochanan (Jhn) 16:1). And sometimes we act surprised when folks tell us who Jesus is or when He shows us who He is or when we get a revelation of awe about who He is. We act surprised like we didn’t know all along. Like the Truth wasn’t obviously there all along.

“Grace and truth have met together;

justice and peace have kissed each other.

Truth springs up from the earth,

and justice looks down from heaven” (Tehillim (Psa) 85:11‭-‬12 CJB). Grace, Truth, justice, and peace are all interwoven together with the love of God. We see grace and truth all over this world. He reveals these things all around us and through so many different situations that I need not even give any examples because you already have a few in mind. Justice and peace are what we receive from Heaven. Without looking for Him in our earthly lives, we will not see His grace and mercy in action. We need grace to deal with people in love and truth to reveal how we should live. Without looking above for a right relationship with Him, we will not see His justice and peace. We need assurance of His justice for all to live at peace with one another. Too often we seek to bring our own justice to the world and that leaves little room for peace. Too often folks strive to bring peace by perverse manners rather than awaiting His justice. Far too often we don’t listen to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount and instead resort to the ways of the Hebrews. We too often forget that Jesus sets things into alignment in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus corrects the faulty ideas of the Hebrews and helps them move forward in right relationship. BUT too often we forget, “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. For the way you judge others is how you will be judged — the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you. Why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye but not notice the log in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when you have the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:1-5). And too often we are very quick to judge each other without turning that discerning judgment on our own lives. Are we living in grace and truth? Are we seeking His justice and peace? Are we seeking His Kingdom?

Seek first His Kingdom which rests on the foundation of love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #NotMyWayYHWH