Matthew 6:33
“seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”
“Okay Gabi, repeat after me: ‘My greatest desire is to do your will’”
“My greatest desire is to do my will”.
This conversation would go on for half an hour sometimes, it just depended on how stubborn I was being at the time.
The first person speaking is my father (John Grunewald), and the second is myself. I had a track record of looking out for my own interests, and not being very willing to bend to others’ ideas. He would sit me down and not let me leave until I repeated what He said— completely.
I believe desire has a lot to do with seeking first the kingdom of God, or really anything else in life. If you are going to daily seek after something, you will need desire + intentionality. You don’t just stumble upon seeking first or stumble upon desire, you have to be intentional about it.
Because of the hours spent looking at my dad and repeating over and over “My greatest desire is to do your will”, I can now easily remember it, and say the same thing to God when a decision is difficult to make. Growing up, I thought everyone’s desire was to do what God wanted them to do, to seek after His calling and purpose for their life. Sadly, after working in many places and seeing other people’s lives play out, that is not always the case.
The world and temporary kingdoms can overshadow God’s kingdom if you aren’t intentional about seeking it out.
My question for you today is, Whose Kingdom are You Building?
Do you find yourself striving for your job, house, or career first? Are you constantly seeking more pay, better promotions, better living conditions?
Don’t get me wrong, these are not evil when placed on the right slot in the priority list. But, they can quickly become what daily consumes us. We want more of everything, and if we just need to put some extra focus on the area, and sacrifice in others, we will do it. Anything to accomplish the goal we are seeking first, and desiring above all else.
How wonderful would it be if we put that same effort into building the Kingdom of God? If we put the same intentionality toward seeking first His kingdom? His kingdom offers eternal rewards, your kingdom on earth is temporary and often unsatisfying. His kingdom is not limited to time or resources, your kingdom is.
My prayer for you today is that you sit with God and ask Him what specific areas in your life you can re-prioritize and invest into His kingdom. Ask Him where you can seek Him first. I believe your life, and the lives of others will be eternally impacted because of it.
You may have read this and asked yourself, “how can I seek first the kingdom of God or build His kingdom?”. That’s a great question! There are many ways, and you have to sit down with God and ask Him in your own life, how He wants to use you the most to impact His kingdom. For Grunewald Ministries, a few of the ways you can help build the kingdom are prayer, giving, and sharing about us with others.