Seek the Kingdom First

Put God's rule first and let food, status, and tomorrow's worry sort behind that.

Key Concept

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.Matthew 6:25-34 NASB1995

• Kingdom and righteousness first - food, status, and tomorrow sort behind that, not before my inbox; the test is what actually gets my first ten minutes of the day.
• Level 1: Put God and doing what is right first - you can tell by what gets your first ten minutes each morning.
• Level 2: Put God and doing what is right first - food, status, and worry about tomorrow come after, and you can tell by what gets your first ten minutes each morning.
• Level 3: Kingdom and righteousness before inbox - tomorrow's anxiety and status sort behind today's first allegiance.
• Level 4: Because whatever gets first minutes becomes functional lord, sequence reveals actual priority, not stated priority.
• Level 5: Kingdom and righteousness first - food, status, and tomorrow sort behind that; the test is what actually gets my first ten minutes of the day.
• The Sermon on the Mount ties this to not serving two masters (God and wealth) and to storing Treasure in Heaven.
• Kingdom is not escape from earth - it is God's reign ordering my priorities today.
• Same job as Signal vs Noise in the PKM stack: what gets first place when everything feels urgent.

Examples

• Tuesday at 7am the house was loud and my Bible was still closed - seek the kingdom first is Scripture before the day's noise sets the agenda.
• Anxiety had me scrolling finances before I prayed - kingdom first meant pray, then act on the bills.

Note Relationships