Seek First

Sunday's sermon was really good, and it was one of those sermons that was not planned. You know... he had a different sermon planned. One with plenty of notes to accompany it. But then God spoke to him at the last minute and he jotted down a few verses on post-it notes, and spoke on something else entirely. 

I love when that happens.

Covenant Community Church

Pastor Jeff was very serious when he began to speak, explaining how this message was so heavy on his heart for us. And at the very beginning, as he was bringing up his main point of the message, what he said struck me. It convicted me, if I'm honest.

"Do not let your want & desire for certain things become greater than your desire for God." 

Later, he said it a different way: "Do not let your hunger for things become greater than your hunger for God." 

Hmmm.

There are some things I want really bad. Two things. One is material, one is far more important than that. I want them so bad, it hurts. I ache. I yearn. I cry. I beg & plead with God.

Do i want them more than i want GOD?

Well, I mean, when you say it like THAT... of course i want God. Of course I want him more than I want these other things. I mean...right?

But i have even been angry with him at times for not giving me what i am asking for. For giving these things to EVERYONE ELSE but me. "Hello, God? Seriously? PLEASE!! You know how much I want this. You know how much I need this. You said ask, seek, knock & it will be given to us!" and so on & so forth.

"Do not let your want & desire for certain things become greater than your desire for God."

It's not something I've ever thought about before. Me & God, we're good. We're close. I love Him. I know He loves me. But my prayers these days have definitely been me asking & begging & praying for these things. More than asking for Him to draw me closer to him. To do whatever it takes in my life to bring me closer to Him. To light me on fire for Him. To help me shine for Him.

Because my vision is so clouded by these other things i WANT. And seriously, I'm not talking about little things. I'm talking about very important things. I am not trying to say that my wants & desires are insignificant. They're not, and that's not the point.

The point is, what does he want from me? What is he asking me to do with my desires? I think he is wanting me to put them aside. To desire HIM. To hunger for HIM. And i shouldn't be afraid to do this. He has always proven faithful. He has always had my back. He has always answered my prayers, even if, at the time, I thought he was late on fulfilling these requests! He still answered them, and it turned out that His timing was a whole lot better than mine.

 My wishes & dreams & desires? Or my walk with God? My relationship with God is most important. He is the one who has saved me from so much. He is the one who turned all of my depression, self-hate, gloom, loneliness, & despair into total utter JOY. He is the one who brought peace in my life. And he is the one who is Faithful. Who has ALWAYS come through for me.

A few days after this sermon, i was driving home & was thinking about what our pastor said. I was thinking about it again, it just kept going through my head. "Do not let your hunger for certain things become greater than your hunger for God." And i was suddenly brought back to when i was in my late teens or early twenties. My youth pastor was ministering to me. He gave me a word of knowledge. And it included a certain Bible verse. I guess i bring up my youth pastor saying this verse to me even though I have read this verse a million times, because i just hear his voice in my head saying it to me,

"Relentlessly pursue the vision & the call. The Bible says, "Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, THEN ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE ADDED UNTO YOU."

To let go of my desires in order to put my desire for God FIRST... it seems scary. Like by letting go, i won't receive those things. But God knows my needs. He knows my desires. And He is faithful. He is not going to not answers my prayers! And you know... this doesn't mean i will stop praying for them. It just means that I will seek God, too. I will seek Him FIRST.

So interesting and comforting to read the verse in its context.

I hope this speaks to you as well.

Matthew 6:25-33

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, or what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much  more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you - you of little faith? 

So do not worry saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'. For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Do not let your hunger for things become greater than your hunger for God. Seek Him FIRST.