MATTHEW 6:25-34
“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with sur-
feiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you un-
awares” (Lk.21:34).
“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col.3:2).
“Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Tit.2:12).
Thought 2. The testimony of the mature believer is: “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me”
(Ps.40:17).
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(6:33) Worry—Anxiety: do not worry, but “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” The word “seek”
(zeteo) means to go after; to strive; to pursue; to desire; to aim at; to search for; to endeavor to get. The believer’s life is
not to be preoccupied with material things, as necessary as some things are. The believer is first of all to be seeking after the
kingdom of God and His righteousness.
1. He is to seek to become a citizen of God’s kingdom, and he is to seek others, encouraging them to become citizens
of God’s kingdom. This is to be the first pursuit of his life.
2. He is to seek after God’s righteousness for himself and for others.
Thought 1. There are two ways to go about taking care of oneself in this world.
1) Working and seeking in one’s own strength: depending upon one’s own ability and energy alone; fighting
and struggling to make it through life and fretting and worrying about succeeding.
2) Working and seeking in both God’s strength and one’s own strength: trusting and acknowledging God while
doing all one can; putting one’s hand to the plow and plowing; working and working and not looking back,
and while working, trusting the results to God. God says He will see to it that such a trusting person will
always have the necessities of life.
Thought 2. The believer whose work fails in the eyes of the world can know four sure things—if he has really put
God first.
1) His failure is temporary. God will help and strengthen and even teach him through the trying times.
2) God will work all things out for good, for he loves God and has been called by God (Ro.8:28f).
3) God will see to it that the necessities of life are given him.
4) God has much better things in store for him—eternally. The believer has been faithful in his work, so God
will reward him as a faithful servant, even if his labor has failed in the eyes of the world.
The believer who goes through a failure needs to remember just one thing: be faithful—continue to be
faithful. In putting God first, God will lift the believer up now and eternally.
Thought 3. God made man a spiritual being. Therefore, the only way man can ever be satisfied is to seek God and
His righteousness first. This world and the things of this world will not satisfy.
Thought 4. Man’s major mistake is this: material things can only make a person comfortable. The things of the
world can only look good, taste good and feel good, but this is all they can do. Think about it! They are external,
outside man, and this is just the problem. The need that man senses within is not to be externally comfortable, but to
be inwardly satisfied and spiritually satisfied (see note-Eph.1:3).
1) Material things cannot touch the inside of man. They can only make him comfortable outside.
2) Man really knows down deep within that all material things pass away, even himself. He subdues the
knowledge, pushes it out of his thoughts, yet he knows it.
Thought 5. Man can have the necessities of life; but he has to do one thing: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness....”
“And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it
shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth;
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Lk.11:9-10).
“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in
faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” (Jas.2:5).
“But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek
him with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Dt.4:29).
“For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a re-
fuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm
against the wall” (Is.25:4).
“When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for
thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them” (Is.41:17).
DEEPER STUDY # 2
(6:33) Kingdom of God: see DEEPER STUDY # 3—Mt.19:23-24.
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(6:34) Worry—Anxiety: do not worry—live one day at a time. The believer is not to be preoccupied with tomorrow and
its affairs. He is to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness today, leaving tomorrow and its needs in God’s hands.
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