The Year Ahead

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33

We enter a new year, under the guidance of the "Good Teacher," confident that it can be our best. But what are the requirements? How can we best accomplish this? A diligent heeding of our Master’s faithful admonition in this text (above) is necessary if we are to make this the best year of our Christian experience.

In the Beatitudes Jesus has told us that the Christian’s blessedness does not consist in nor depend upon the abundance of earthly things... "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of," therefore, avoid the pitfalls of greed and anxiety that lie close at hand -- just outside the narrow path. Wealth, beyond the dreams of the most avaricious of misers, is within the grasp of one who lays up treasure in heaven; but, as Jesus points out in verse 19, this prospect is for those who do not lay up treasure on earth. Each can easily test for himself where his treasure is, for the richest can be overanxious, and the poorest greedy of gain.

It is foolish to set one’s heart on perishable earthly treasure, however desirable it may be for present use. It is pernicious to fix one’s gaze on earth’s trifles, thus darkening the vision of the more distant but eternal things. "How great is that darkness!" It is fatal to do so, for "no man can serve two masters." Two things so far removed from each other cannot at the same time hold one’s attention. "Without faith it is impossible to please God," and there is no faith when self, instead of God, is trusted to decide what things are needful. Trusting his grace does not imply slothfulness or negligence. It is ours to sow, relying on God to give the increase. Our common expression, "freedom from care," tells of the slavery of anxiety, and hints at the peace that may reign in the heart whose treasure is all in heaven with our loving Father as its guardian. Therefore, he says to us, "Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on."

Lessons From Nature

The tenderness of the Master’s tone as he utters the gentle reproof of this passage is indicated by the illustrations he uses, the delicate wild lily of the Nazarene hillsides and the defenseless fowl of the air. Dr. Thomson, in "The Land and the Book," describes the Huleh lily which he believes to be the one our Lord referred to. "This Huleh lily is very large, and the three inner petals meet above, and form a gorgeous canopy, such as art never approached, and king never sat under, even in his utmost glory. When I met this incomparable flower, in all its loveliness, among the oak woods around the northern base of Tabor and on the hills of Nazareth, where our Lord spent his youth, I felt assured that it was this to which he referred. Nothing can be in higher contrast than the luxuriant, velvety softness of this lily, and the crabbed, tangled hedge of thorns about it." Could any illustration more aptly have described the "all glorious" Bride amid her present surroundings--and of the thousands of instances when, unknown to us, the hand that nurtures the wild flowers has protected us from life’s thorns? His eye is quick to note the roots of evil, and, while we wonder that he should have permitted us to be placed where we are, knows that a little to this side the ‘thorns would have choked out all growth, but that over there in that attractive, clear spot we would soon have been the food of some roving animal. If the year ahead should have more of thorns, let us remember that he can regulate their growth as readily as he can clothe the lily, and that therefore, "no trial will overtake us greater than we are able (in his strength) to bear."

The Lily’s dangers are the withering south wind and the scythe of the mower. We might use them as pictures of the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches. At first touch of the desolating breath of the south wind, an agreeable warming is felt, but the end comes quickly and the loveliest of lilies is left faded, parched and dead. The other picture speaks of the futility of sacrificing spiritual hopes to fire the oven that bakes our bread.

The whole passage in which these illustrations are found is a lesson on prayer. Jesus has just instructed his disciples to look to their heavenly Father for even their daily bread, without doubt meaning both the physical and the spiritual. He had just assured them that our Father knows the things we need, so there is no excuse for an anxious brow as we pray this petition, worrying for fear the loaves will be neither large enough nor good enough. He does indicate that "the morrow," representative of the Father’s overruling providence, "shall provide for the things of itself."

The promise of our text is not an encouragement to sloth, for "he that provideth not for his own is worse than an unbeliever." The word "provide" is a literal translation of the Greek word Paul uses here in 1 Timothy 5:8. This means taking thought for the future, but not anxious thought. There is no hint of anxious thought here; but of careful estimating as to how much ground must be plowed and properly fertilized that there may be an ample supply of nourishing food for all; careful selecting of seed that the food may be of the best; a judicious estimating as to the proper amount to store for coming needs--not tearing down old barns and building new that our neighbors may envy--and the grinding, the heating and watching of the oven; all these fall to our lot. When the bread, brown and tempting, comes to the table, we give Him thanks that He, not our effort, has answered the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." How prone, nevertheless, is the flesh rather to think of it’s hours of planning and of the calluses on its hands.

"Behold the birds of heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they?" "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Be not, therefore, anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Putting First Things First

"Our Master’s instruction is to begin the day with the kingdom and make it the principal thing throughout the day. If the day starts with the world and the flesh, and they are uppermost throughout the day, the life can be but fleshly. The fact that in our day there are more things to attract our attention, and more things supposedly necessary to life than ever before, is offset by tests that more clearly than ever before reveal our true state. Present conditions make very apparent whether the kingdom of heaven is being made ours, for it is not only righteousness, but also "peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). Righteousness is elusive, and there is as much danger today as at any time in the past that we will seek our righteousness instead of his and be very content with ourselves, so that this point is as difficult to guard now as when our Lord spoke these words. How do our "peace and joy" stand the test? Is peace still garrisoning our hearts amidst this day of darkness? Have we proved that the kingdom of heaven is not just righteousness, but also "Peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" -- not the world’s peace born of conceit, nor their short-lived joy, but the peace and joy of which "there shall be no end?"

In all our endeavors we should remember our entire dependence upon God--that our life is to be one of cooperation with God. We must, therefore, ask his direction before we undertake to decide what we are to do or not to do. Realizing our insufficiency we should ever be in a state of mind that would seek with meekness and simplicity to know our heavenly Father’s will. We should have no choice of our own that is at variance with His. The choice should be left with Him. This is the one condition on which we can cooperate with God. There must be a willing submission to divine guidance without the least resistance of bias of mind -- in the attitude of sincere waiting upon God that we may learn not only what he would have us do, but the time and manner of doing it. The language of our hearts must ever be, "My soul, wait thou only upon God." This is very important. God is pleased to be present with and cooperate with such a soul.

The highest honor and the highest power of man is, having put away all hindrances, to wait upon God in simple faith. Man never acts to higher and nobler purpose than when, in the realization of his own insufficiency, he places himself in full submission and lets God work in him. In this attitude he is as the "lily of the field," which receives the morning dew, the summer shower, and the daily sunshine, appropriates each to itself, and without self-effort becomes beautifully "arrayed"....How thankful we should be to be permitted thus to enter into partnership with God and to become co-workers with him. How the thought of our life united with the life and activity of God elevates and sanctifies every moment, experience, and duty!

Let us diligently, seek first and primarily, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, praying thus for one and all of the Lord’s people and ...this will be a joyful, Happy New Year!

- P. E. Thompson

© 2006 Christian Millennial Fellowship

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