In my previous article we learned the importance of clearing the decks, but the process of uncluttering our lives and removing unnecessary distractions must always be accompanied by trusting and seeking God first. When we’re resting and abiding in Christ, we can confidently leave all other things in His sovereign hands.
Every year thousands of churches and Christian organizations host Bible memory contests for youth. It’s encouraging to watch these kids recite their verses, and it’s amazing how much of God’s Word they can actually retain. But it’s all too common for the memorization itself to become the primary focus. Johnny gets praised for a perfect delivery, but when asked what the verse means, a deer-in-the-headlights stare reveals that he missed out on the core reason the event was organized in the first place.
One of the shortcomings of rote Bible verse memorization is that comprehension and meditation often take a backseat. After all, our ability to regurgitate a few memorized words doesn’t necessarily mean that we are growing spiritually. Merely repeating words only brings us up to the level of a parrot.
Christians of all ages have experienced this. We recite verses over and over again without giving much thought to their significance. Memorizing passages is beneficial, but we have to keep the chief end in mind—transformation. Without faith, humble submission, and a hunger for God Himself, reading the Bible can easily be relegated to an academic exercise.
But when we diligently seek Christ and see the Bible as a love letter written in blood by our passionate Savior, meditation and transformation will supernaturally flow from memorization. The Holy Spirit is faithful to illuminate the Word for those who are pursuing God.
Among the most popular Bible memory verses is Matthew 6:33—“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Many of us have heard or recited this well-known passage countless times, but how often have we stopped and prayerfully considered how to apply it to our lives in humble submission to the Spirit?
This declaration should challenge us to the core of our soul because there are no exceptions or qualifying stipulations given. So this means we are to first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness all of the time and in all circumstances; there is no wiggle room.
In our natural state without Christ, our first priorities are the “things” that we want God to “add” to our lives. We may attempt to spiritualize self-focused ambitions by adding these things to our prayer list, but God commands us to first pursue what is important to Him. When His priorities become our priorities, we can completely trust Him to provide all things necessary to accomplish His will and sustain us from day to day.
Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness first requires faith. God calls us to stop worrying about tomorrow and trust Him. Jesus taught us that our heavenly Father can be completely trusted to provide all our basic needs (food, water, and clothing) and even pointed out His faithfulness to take care of the less diligent birds and lilies of the field we so easily dismiss (Matthew 6:26–30).
We can only seek God first when we wholeheartedly trust Him and give up trying to figure things out on our own. He wants our unwavering, childlike faith in His providence in all categories of our life. He is our divine Director who desires to be trusted and sought always (Proverbs 3:5–6).
First-things-first is a key principle to living an effective lifestyle. When applied, it guides us through a disciplined management and implementation of our life grids. The challenge is not just to manage our time and resources, but to manage ourselves. By better managing our lives to include our day-to-day schedules, we will have more time to focus on enhancing relationships.