Back to: The Sower (A Study of Discipleship)
The Kingdom Mandate
Christianity as a religion is well-known, well-established, well studied, well-researched, well-recorded, and well-distributed; but little or nothing is known about the Kingdom. This is very strange, considering that the Kingdom mandate was the only message the Lord Jesus taught. God established His priority at the beginning of creation and made it clear by His own declaration to mankind. Jesus Christ came to earth and re-established God’s number-one priority. God’s priority for mankind is completely opposite to man’s priorities. Jesus established God’s priority for all mankind with several powerful and straightforward statements:
Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?”
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Seek First His Kingdom
This is the most important statement made by the Lord Jesus, and it establishes what should be the priority in our lives. Jesus identifies the Kingdom as being more important than food, water, clothing, shelter, and every other basic human need. According to His assessment, then, what should be mankind’s priority and primary preoccupation in life? The Kingdom of God. God’s number one priority for mankind is that we discover, understand, and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
This declaration by Jesus also suggests that there must be something about the Kingdom that all of mankind has missed and misunderstood. If everything we pursue and strive for to live and survive are found in the Kingdom, then we have been misguided and perhaps have imposed on ourselves unnecessary hardship, stress, and frustration.
