We don’t always wake up thinking, “Today I’m going to ignore God.”
We wake up thinking about what needs to get done. The bills, the messages, the job, the family. Alongside it all, there’s something else quietly shaping us, a desire for stability, a hope that things will work out, a longing to feel secure, valued, or at peace. Life fills up quickly with these things, and before we realise it, our attention is already spoken for. It’s not that we’ve rejected God. We’ve simply become busy, preoccupied, distracted.
And it’s into that very normal, very human reality that Jesus speaks:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
At first, it can sound like a call to simply “put God first.” But as we sit with it, we begin to see that Jesus is not just talking about where God sits in our lives. He is challenging what shapes our lives in the first place. Because the real issue isn’t just that we’re busy. It’s that the things we naturally long for, security, stability, peace, quietly begin to take the lead. And when those desires take center stage, even subtly, our focus begins to shift in ways we may not immediately notice.
When We Lose Sight in the Midst of It All
We rarely make a conscious decision to move away from God. More often, we drift. Distraction is rarely loud or obvious. It usually comes through good and necessary things. Work and responsibility matter. Relationships and family matter. Financial security and personal ambitions matter too. But over time, even good things can take center stage in our hearts. And without realising it, our focus begins to drift, from God’s will to our plans, from His kingdom to our ideal life, from seeking Him to seeking what He can give.
When Seeking Becomes Using
In that drift, something even more subtle happens. We begin to reshape how we relate to God. Instead of approaching Him as King, we begin, often unconsciously, to treat Him like a provider of our desires. Almost like a spiritual “Santa Claus,” we bring Him our requests, our hopes, our expectations, and ask Him to deliver what we believe will make our lives complete. Our prayers start to carry a different tone. We ask God to bless what we have already decided, to give us what we feel we need, to make our plans succeed. It still looks like faith on the surface. But underneath, our desires can begin to take the center, and God becomes someone we ask to support our plans rather than shape them.
What It Really Means to Seek First
This is where Jesus’ words begin to gently but firmly challenge us:
“Seek first the kingdom of God…” Jesus isn’t simply saying, “Make sure God is at the top of your list.” Because even that can leave us in control. Instead, He invites us into something deeper. We are called to begin with Him entirely. “First” is not just about priority. It is about starting point.
We often think of life as something to organise, placing God first, then everything else. But Jesus is pointing beyond a list altogether. He is calling us to a life where everything flows from Him.
Beginning With Jesus in the Midst of It All
To seek the kingdom first is to begin with Jesus, before our plans, before our desires, before our assumptions about what we need. It means allowing Him to shape how we see things before we decide what matters. It means letting Him define what the “good life” really is. It means making Him the center, not something we fit in, but the One around whom everything revolves.
When What We Seek Needs Reshaping
This is where things become honest, and sometimes uncomfortable. We often assume our desires are reliable guides. We believe that if God simply gave us what we long for, we would finally feel satisfied. But our desires are not always as clear or reliable as we might hope. Sometimes they are incomplete, sometimes misdirected, and often shaped more by the world around us than by God.
We may chase success when what we truly need is purpose. We may long for comfort when what we need is transformation. We may try to control things when what we really need is to trust. Seeking the kingdom first does not mean God ignores our desires. It means He patiently reshapes them, helping us see more clearly what leads to life.
Surrendering Our Own Kingdom
At its core, this verse brings us to a deeper question:
Do we want God’s kingdom, or do we want our own?
Because the two are not always the same. To seek the kingdom first is to loosen our grip on our timelines, our expectations, and even our definitions of success. It is to slowly move from asking God to give us what we want, to inviting Him to reshape what we want. It becomes a quieter, deeper prayer:
“God, reorder my desires.”
“God, show me Your kingdom here.”
“God, help me want what You want.”
Trusting Him in the Midst of It All
Jesus ends with a promise:
“And all these things will be added to you.”
This is not a guarantee of an easy or problem-free life.
It is a promise of God’s care. When we stop trying to use God to build the life we want, and instead allow Him to shape it, something changes within us. We begin to experience peace in uncertainty. Strength meets us in weakness. A deeper sense of purpose grows, one that does not depend on everything going right. And over time, we realise that what we truly needed was never just provision. It was Him.
An Invitation to Seek Again
We will all drift. We will all become distracted. There will be days when other things feel more urgent. Days when our desires feel louder than God’s voice. Days when we slip back into trying to build life on our own terms. But the invitation of Jesus is not harsh or condemning. It is patient, gentle, and steady. Each day, He simply calls us back. Not to perfection, but to Himself. Not to strive harder, but to begin again. To lay down what we thought we needed most. To trust Him with what we are holding onto. To seek His kingdom, right here in the middle of it all.
The good news is this:
We do not have to get it all right before we come.
We can come distracted.
We can come uncertain.
We can come with desires that are still being reshaped.
Because the point was never that we would perfectly seek God, but that in seeking, we would find Him already near. And as we begin again with Jesus, even in small and quiet ways, we discover that He is gently reordering our hearts, teaching us what truly matters, and giving us more of Himself along the way.