But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
The command to seek first does not arrive in a quiet room. It lands in the middle of talk about food and clothes. One writer asks us to notice that:
The Lord Jesus said, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." What had He been speaking of just before? Of what we shall eat and what we shall wear — the things we need for daily life. We do need them. But it is exactly because we need them that our Lord says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." Are we listening to this word? What is first in our souls?
"First" is easily misread as a timetable — deal with God, then get on with life. One commentator cuts that reading off directly:
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." We are not to seek first the kingdom of God and then seek these things. We seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the rest will come.
The issue is not how much time something takes. It is which claim comes first. One writer wrote this to a man deciding whether to take up a job alongside his preaching:
The thing that I fear is not seeking FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It is not the time only that a similar occupation takes, but its having the prior claim, which is important. It alters the whole tone of the mind.
One writer sums the kingdom up in two words — God's interests — and draws a conclusion about worry:
Seek the kingdom of God, that is, God's interests, and all these things will be added to you. So, dear friends, not one of us needs to be troubled by a single care. We will not be troubled if we only take this into our hearts: God loves us, He cares for us, and He watches over us because He cares for us. So He will never let one of His children go without, if that child seeks first the kingdom of God.
The verse names two things, not one, and the second is not decoration. One writer explains what makes this second thing hard:
"His righteousness" is added to this. Everything in the world is stained by man's unrighteousness. So it takes real purpose of heart to seek the purity of God's righteousness in surroundings that pull the other way. This does take time and thought.
Another writer asks where this seeking shows itself day by day:
Do we make our decisions, small or great, in dependence on Him — praying and waiting on Him? Do we let Him rule our lives in this way? This is the only way to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The righteousness of God here is not the same as the righteousness spoken of in Romans. It is practical conduct. It answers to the authority and rule of God through the Lord Jesus in our lives.
The promise is real. But one writer warns that it collapses the moment it becomes the reason we seek:
We are to make the things of God our main aim, and He promises to take care of all our needs. But note this. We are not to seek "the kingdom of God" so that "all these things may be added." That would be a fatal mistake. If I give myself to the Lord's work so that my everyday needs will be met, I will soon come to ruin. But if I make the Lord's work my first aim, God will fully meet my needs.
One writer points out who does the adding:
Before all else, consider the rights of God. Our habit is to seek food and clothing first, along with everything else we count as a need or comfort in this life. But the Lord puts all of that well outside the range of our worry. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." The promise is that all these things will be added — that is, that God will add them.
One writer ties the promise back to what it rests on:
If we make God's kingdom and righteousness our first concern, we can expect Him to add all the good things we need. Our God and Father never overlooks our needs. If faithful in the greatest and deepest things, He loves that we should trust Him as to our least things. Do we believe the Lord, that "all these things" — the ones unbelief worries about — "will be added to us"? Let us not forget the condition: "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
- First — not a sequence, but a ranking. Seek the kingdom and everything else follows. Let another claim take first place and it changes the whole tone of the mind.
- Kingdom — God's interests. Seeking it means making His concerns our own.
- Righteousness — doing what is right under His rule, in dependence on Him, in decisions small and great.
- Added — God does the adding. The moment the promise becomes the motive, the seeking is ruined. Make the Lord's work your first aim, and every need is met.
- Condition — the promise does not stand alone. Faithful in the greatest things, we are invited to trust Him with the least.
Be not careful therefore for the morrow, for the morrow shall be careful about itself. Sufficient to the day [is] its own evil.
Jesus closes His teaching on worry by drawing a line around the day you are actually living in. It raises a practical question. Is planning ahead forbidden, or the fear that eats away at the heart?
The command treats fear of a coming evil as a failure of trust. One writer notes that the feared thing often never arrives — and that even when it does, God is there:
"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself." Our Lord is preparing us for this. The anxiety that dreads some evil thing tomorrow is nothing but unbelief. When tomorrow comes, the evil may not be there. If it does come, God will be there... Often, when the heart bows to God's will about a sorrow we dread, God takes the sorrow away and meets us with unexpected kindness and goodness.
Anxiety also has a direction. It looks forward:
And there is another characteristic about anxiety. It looks ahead without faith. Unbelief draws dark pictures of despair and fills the mind with a day that may never come.
The second half of the verse sets a boundary on how much a person is meant to bear at once. Take on tomorrow's load and you carry weight that God has given you no grace for:
He also sets a limit on care, and that limit by itself rules most care out. How much of the burden we carry really belongs to tomorrow? It is a burden that is not ours yet. Who can tell what tomorrow will bring? Each day will have enough evil of its own. It is never too much, because a careful hand has measured it out. But when we borrow trouble that has not come yet, we make the day's burden too heavy, and we cannot count on God's grace for what has not come... How often has His love disappointed all our fears in ways we never dreamed of!
Commentators are careful not to turn this verse into a ban on forethought. One writer looks at the word behind "take thought" and finds the idea of a heart pulled in two directions:
In all this, what is forbidden is not thinking about tomorrow, but anxious care. The word itself comes from one that suggests "division," and so a "distracted" heart... James blames only the confident tone of that speech, not all planning for tomorrow. That should be plain: if the opposite were true, the whole course of our lives would have to change.
The same distinction shows up in ordinary family duties:
We believe the Christian must provide for his family, day by day. He must educate his children and set them on the way to earning an honest living... But those duties are one thing. Hoarding money and speculating are another... We believe that hoarding covers the soul with rust and speculation fills the heart and mind with care and anxiety.
Verse 34 is not simply a repeat of what came before. One writer finds the command sharpening at the end:
The disciples were not to make anxiety about food and clothing a habit. Even a brief look at the birds, or at the lilies, might well correct it. They were not to be anxious at all, said the Lord — not for the morrow. It is a stronger statement, excluding even a single instance.
The command has a foundation under it. The one who holds tomorrow is the believer's Father:
But why should the child of God give way to anxiety about tomorrow? He can be glad and bold, sure of his Father's love, and free to do His will today, whatever the trial. God is above tomorrow's anxiety too, and the believer can cast it on Him if it comes. "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Christ is our burden-bearer.
Experience confirms it. One writer adds another reason the dreaded day may never come:
How often have we worried about what tomorrow would bring, and then, when it came, found that the Lord stepped in... To remember that your Father knows, is to put the heart at peace. And we might never have to face tomorrow at all. The Lord may come before it arrives.
There is a reverse application. The same uncertainty that makes worry pointless makes delay dangerous:
If a warning to believers does not include you, you are in special danger. You are putting off until tomorrow the call of the gospel that God makes to you today... Delay will only increase your sins and harden your heart... How many have put off to a tomorrow that never came!
- Today's evil — each day carries a measured portion. A careful hand set the size. It is enough, and never too much.
- Today's grace — God gives grace for the day He gives it. You cannot draw on it early for a trouble that has not come.
- Today's work — providing, teaching your children and earning are duties. Jesus forbids the distracted heart, not planning.
- Today's Father — tomorrow is in His hands, and Christ carries the burden. Not even one moment of anxiety is called for.
- Today's decision — never postpone the gospel call. Many have put it off to a tomorrow that never came.