Let Me Build My Kingdom First, Part 1

This is my confession. We have to start here so everyone knows I am not simply casting stones.

I just ended a five-day fast. Praise God! (Both for the five-days and for the end of it.) Anyone who knows me knows about the only thing I have ever gotten out of fasting is hungry. I am what some have called a "slow faster." For about the past two years I have stuck to the only diet plan that has ever really helped me lose weight. I made it up myself, but it is not copyrighted so you can use it too. It is really quite simple. Cut down on sugar intake. Then only eat when you are hungry and quit eating when you are satisfied. It worked for me to the tune of about twenty pounds over that time. It also enabled me to eat just one hearty meal a day and something more like snacks three or for times a day and feel satisfied. That is just to say, going from there to a total fast is not as difficult as if one were eating three square meals a day. However, unaccustomed as I am to fasting, and advancing in years, it still hurt by the third day--and did not get any better. I did learn some things and broke a bondage or two which is the purpose of this series of posts.

Jesus told us to, "Seek first the kingdom of God..." (Matthew 6:33) That is the subtitle of the next post, but we should start thinking about it now because it really is the essence of the entire series. I am going to guess that most of us are in the boat together in that we have no earthly conception of what it means to seek God's kingdom first. Now, before you get outraged by that statement, take a breath and tell yourself what it means. selah If you were able to do that, you are not in the boat with us. You can stop reading now if you want to. You might still want to read the next post, however.

Like most of you, I have read Jesus' words about seeking God's kindgom first many times and have heard several teachings on them over the years. In fact, I would probably say I thought I was seeking God's kingdom first. After all, I go to church every week (sometimes my wife makes me) and I give more than ten percent of my income to Christian ministries. I even do daily devotions and am reading a chronological Bible that will get me through the whole Bible in a year. What else can I do?

Seeking God's kingdom is not a matter of what we do. Although who we are is of the utmost importance to God, it is not even about that. It is a matter of priorities. Some readers were just hit with a jolt of revelation. That is what happened to me as well a couple nights ago. How have we (I) missed things like that? When we are told to seek something first, that indicates the top of a priority list. That in turn indicates there are other things which must not be at the top of the priority list--like everything else.

My confession is that I am a soul-first individual and I have only just realized it. In worldly terms we would say I was ignorant. Spiritually speaking, we would say I was deceived. Of course I would like to put all that in the past tense--and hopefully will be able to do that soon. The soul-first individual says to God, when confronted with the words of Jesus we are discussing, "Let me build my kindgom first." He does not usually even say "please."

See if any of the following quotes correlate with your experience:
"I have to finish my education first."
"I have to get a job first."
"I have to get married first."
"I have to have some money first."
Now again, if you are not guilty of any of those things you may stop reading. Where are your priorities? It was the last one that got me. Of course, then again, I have all the others, sort of.

If this has been as much fun for you as it has for me, look forward to doing it again soon. Part 2 coming up. God bless.