"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33, KJV)
It is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible, and the heart of our Kingdom First collection. But what does it really mean to seek first the kingdom of God?
The context: Jesus is talking about worry
Matthew 6:33 comes at the end of a passage in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus speaks directly to anxious people. Just before it, He says:
"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on." (Matthew 6:25)
Then He points to creation:
"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" (Matthew 6:26)
"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." (Matthew 6:28-29)
Food, drink, clothes: the everyday things that fill our to-do lists and keep us up at night. Jesus does not say they don't matter. He says your Father already knows you need them.
What "seek first" means
Seek is an active word. It means pursuing something on purpose, every day, the way you would look for something you lost and can't live without.
First is about priority. Not only first in the morning, but first in importance: before the plans, before the worry, before the list.
The kingdom of God and his righteousness is God's rule in your life and living the way He calls you to live. It means asking, before anything else: what does God want here?
The promise: "all these things shall be added"
"All these things" are the things Jesus just named: what you will eat, drink and wear. The promise is not that life will be easy or that you will get everything you want. It is that the God who feeds the birds and clothes the lilies will take care of what you truly need when He comes first.
Three ways to seek first this week
- Give Him the first minutes of your day. Before your phone, read one verse and pray one sentence.
- Bring your worries to Him first. Before you vent, scroll or panic, pray.
- Make one decision by asking what pleases Him, not only what is easiest or most profitable.
Why we built a collection around it
As a veteran, I learned that discipline is about doing first things first, every day, even when you don't feel like it. Faith works the same way. That is why every piece in our Kingdom First collection carries Matthew 6:33: a reminder of what comes first, right there in your closet.
Some of our favorites: the Kingdom First Oversized Tee, the Seek First Crop Tee, the Consider the Lilies Oversized Tee, the Birds of the Air Crop Tee and, for the little ones, the God Takes Care of Me Youth Tee.
Seek Him first. Everything else is added.