We live in a stressed-out world! Americans are continuing our trend to higher and higher levels of anxiety and we in the church are no different. It seems to be true, with much wealth comes much worry. We worry about losing what we have, and we worry about getting what we don’t have. Our concern over finances causes us to be workaholics. Our fear about our health makes us obsessive about our diet and exercise. Apprehension over losing our freedoms sparks a desperation to fight for our rights. Even our faith ignites worry about people seeing how sinful we really are and leads us to frantically hide our true selves. Anxiety is everywhere in our culture, but this should not be for people of the Kingdom.

In some sense, the passage before us this week is a continuation of the lesson from last week about idolatry. If we are worshiping God alone, we will not worry about the things of this world. To say it another way, our level of anxiety over worldly things reveals our level of idolatry. But there is another piece of this that I think is important for us to zero in on this week. Jesus’ instruction in this passage is not just in the negative, don’t worry, but also in the positive, seek first. He is encouraging us to substitute our worry with seeking. In essence, He’s saying the key to dealing with anxiety is getting our eyes on the right thing. It is proper vision that will dissolve our worry, and what is that vision? It's a vision of the Kingdom.

Living in a material world leads to us being people who only have eyes for the material. But, as Christians, we are born not just of water, but of the Spirit as well. If all we can see is the physical realities around us, we will despair and worry. But if we can take our eyes off of what is tangible and instead gain a vision of the spiritual realities our stress levels will plummet. Getting our eyes on spiritual things is the key to living a life of complete peace and total surrender and trust in God. But how do we do that? How do we develop our spiritual senses? How do we seek first and see His Kingdom and righteousness?

This week’s devotionals will be focused on helping us to more deeply grasp the spiritual truths of God’s presence, voice, will, truth and goodness. Seeking God’s Kingdom results in us knowing His Kingdom, living in His Kingdom, and expanding His Kingdom. While the fullness of His Kingdom will not be experienced until Jesus returns, we can still enjoy His Kingdom now. As we Seek the face of God, and as we See the face of God, our minds are transformed so we can think, speak and live in the Kingdom of God right now.