Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you too. Matthew 6:33 The Voice
Yesterday we learned about Mary and Martha and their relationship with Jesus. Both wanted to serve Him, but from very different places. Martha was trying to “make Jesus happy” by preparing a meal, having things neat and clean, making sure He had everything He needed. Mary on the other hand was serving Jesus by paying attention to Him and was learning Who He was by sitting at His feet. Although Martha tried to guilt her into helping with the busyness, she chose to remain seated and as the Hebrew Scriptures say, recognizing the good that was being done to her.
In the Old Testament there are two other accounts of how important it is to make Jesus our focus. The first one is in the book of Esther. Esther was one of the young women brought to the Palace who the king would choose for his queen. It took over a year for them to eventually brought into the presence of the king so he could choose his future queen. Each time a candidate was picked to meet with the king, they had a chance to go to the royal treasurey and choose clothe and adornments for the royal audience. Each one picked what they wanted, what pleased them. But Esther asked the kings eunuch what would please the king. And the rest of the story is, that she then became the queen.
The other account is when David was on the run from Saul. He lived in a cave and had men living with him. Although they originally came as those who were in debt, discouraged and discontented, 37 of them became known as his Mighty Men. Out of the 37, 3 of them were very close to David. One night they heard him talking about the water in Jerusalem and how he longed for a taste of it again. In spite of the danger, they went out, broke through enemy lines got the water and returned to David with it. David’s heart was broken open in appreciation. The act of love was so great, he used the water to be poured out before God as a sacrifice. Their names are listed in 2 Samuel 23:16-30. But David’s head General Joab is not listed, the reason is because although he served the kingdom well, he didn’t serve the king. For when Absolom, David’s son was caught after trying to overthrow David, instead of returning him to the king as David requested, he killed him.
Now both these accounts are showing us that we can serve in the kingdom and do all the “right” things and feel self-righteous about it or we can serve the king himself and learn of His righteousness and live in it. We too should ask ourselves this question, where is our focus? Is it on the kingdom and trying to work to please the king, or is it on the King himself and Who He is just to get to know Him better? Only you can answer that question and it’s a good one to ask often. For when we do and heed what we find, can we know our focus is on Jesus our Provider, our all in all.
Leave a Reply