In Matthew 6:25-28 Jesus says, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they are? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature. So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grown: they neither toil nor spin.” He’s saying, “Look at how God takes care of a field of flowers. You have a relationship with God the Father. How much more will He take care of you?” He then tells us to seek the relationship first, rather than things. “Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Yet today in the Christian church, I’ll tell you, a vast majority of our prayers are for things, when we should be praying, “God, please reveal yourself to me God. I want to know you. I want to know the power of your love in my life. I want to see your hand in my life. I want to experience you God.” Moses did it. Moses said, “I want to know you.” What did Paul say? “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.” You see hearts here that are not looking for things but looking for the Creator of things. It’s all about a relationship. God is looking for people who will seek Him and not things. There’s a difference to seeking His hand or His face. Moses sought His face. David sought His face. Paul sought His face. They didn’t seek what He could do for them. They sought Him for who He was. The gospel is the relationship that we’re called to. It’s nothing else. God wanted us in a relationship. He gave us life and life more abundant. He rejoices over things in our lives. We pursue things when we need to. But all of our life, we’re pursuing the one who gave us life and that’s God the Father and Jesus Christ.
In this simple message, Jesus, says, “Look at what God did for the world. Look at how He cares for creation. Don’t you think you’re much more valuable than that?” Seek God first and the rest will come. Being obedient to the word of God is what brings the blessings, and you’re obedient because of your relationship with God—not because or laws and rules, but because you learn His character and understand the gospel. 2 Corinthians 5:14 says, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if one died for all, then all died, and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselvbes, but for Him who died for them and rose again."
What does it mean to be obedient? Matthew 22:36 says that everything rests on two commandments: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your heart, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
How can God command us to love Him? How do you do that? The only way that you could do that is if you give so much love and give so much of yourself that the person can’t help but love you back. He said, “Love me with all your heart, soul and mind—because I’m going to make it easy on you. I’m going to buy you eternal life. I’m going to buy you a place in heaven. I’m going to give you a relationship with Me. I’m going to take care of your enemies and I’m going to bless you in the earth.” He revealed His love to us first. God commands us into this love relationship with Him, but He makes it so easy because He loves us back in such a way where we can’t deny Him the love. And then He says to love our neighbors as ourselves. Why? You can’t do one without the other. Jesus said, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments, which means you’ll love others.”
1 Corinthians 13:3 says: “And tough I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
If you give all your goods to the poor, but you don’t have love, it’s nothing. If you have faith that can move mountains but you don’t have love, it’s nothing. That’s what it’s saying here. It doesn’t matter how much you put in the offering bin unless love is attached to it. It’s the catalyst that makes it all work. It energizes all of our Christians acts.
The difference between successful Christians and those who aren’t are those that know their God. Those that know Him are the ones that can have faith in Him, that can love Him. Those who truly know God can live this life. There’s a difference between knowing He’s there. In Exodus we learned they knew He was there, but they didn’t want to go close to Him. But Moses says, “ I’m going to draw near. I’m going to come into his presence.” Why? “Because I want to know this God that delivered me and my family.” That’s the heart we should have. In fact, we should be singing and rejoicing over the relationship that we have with our Father.
Think about this life that we have with the trinity. We have the Father who made a way for us to come into His presence and to access His power and grace. We have Jesus who gave His life for us and bought us the salvation that we now stand in. And we have the Holy Spirit to lead us, teach us and direct us into the things of God. I challenge you today to pray for your relationship with God. Ask God to reveal Himself to you. Tell Him that you want to know Him and for Him to become such a part of your life that you can’t live any other way. If you draw close, He’ll draw close and it will make your life a lot easier. The church grew because of the power of God in men’s lives. When people moved in the Spirit and the power and the anointing of God, things happened. Money came. People came. We need to get back there. We can if we give our hearts to Him and begin to pray.
