What does it mean to seek God’s Kingdom first and His righteousness? While there are many aspects to this, I wanted to share one of the things I learned as I studied Matthew 6:33 recently.
The Greek word is Strong’s #1343 dik-ah-yos-oo-nay and means equity (of character or act) specially (Christian) justification. I think most of us think of the first part of this definition when we think of the English word, “righteousness.” Now, consider the second part of the definition–justification. But let’s consider it for others, not ourselves. If we are already His disciples, we have been justified. But what about the many people around us who have not yet been justified. They need salvation. When we seek His righteousness for others, we are building His kingdom. More humans will be willing subjects of His. And as a side benefit, when we witness, it always has an impact on the first part of the definition above. Once you speak up for Christ, you want to live like a Christian (not a hypocrite). And once you speak up for Christ, He gives you a greater measure of His power to live as a Christian.
When we share a tract and/or speak with others about Jesus Christ, we are seeking God’s Kingdom and His righteousness.
When we were at one of the stores we went to, I prayed that there would be someone wearing a blue shirt that we could hand a tract to. Then in the store, my sister passed out tracts to different people. I looked to see if they had a blue shirt, but they didn’t. Then after we got to the checkout, my sister gave a tract to the person behind us, and I noticed that she had a blue shirt!
God leads us in how to pray, so that He can say yes to our prayers. Let’s listen to the Lord to know how to pray.~Elijah Bedford
I know what it’s like to hand out tracts at a big parade or our regular grocery stores. But when I am in a different setting, I usually feel less bold. I think about “How will they respond? What will happen?”
Just this past week, I had those thoughts at Arby’s. Thankfully, the Lord helped me get over to the table where the one other patron was with her girls. I offered Albert Brainsteins for her girls, which were readily accepted, then gave her a 101 World’s Funniest One-Liners.
It would appear that my success pretty well stopped there. But the Lord knows if one of them is the next [Mrs.] Billy Graham (or Mary Slessor, or…).
And despite other refusals, I did give an older lady a tract, too. DON’T BE AFRAID to WITNESS. OFFER a tract!
~Mary