“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

What are you chasing? We are all chasing something. Experiences, money, love, success, pleasure, fame, affirmation, fitting in, health, or other things. We are chasing what we think about, dream about, and focus our minds on. It is what we yearn for because we are convinced that if we achieve that goal, we will be fulfilled and content. Our goal is self-actualization. Becoming something. And ultimately, it is about filling the God-sized hole in our hearts.

In chasing these things, the irony is that we miss the main thing, which is Jesus and His kingdom. CS Lewis famously wrote that ‘We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.' 

When Jesus came, he came announcing a kingdom. His kingdom. And he said that the greatest treasure we could have is to be a part of that kingdom. This is how he put it in Matthew 13:44-46. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy went out and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

The point of these two parables is that these guys sold it all and bet the farm on the Kingdom of God. They understood that there was nothing more precious and nothing more important and nothing more valuable than God’s kingdom, and they went in, all or nothing. They knew something that many others don’t know, and that is that chasing after Jesus and His Kingdom as the center of our lives brings greater joy, satisfaction, and life than all the other things we have chased. Those other things are like mud pies in a slum compared to a holiday at sea. So not only are we too easily pleased per CS Lewis, but we miss out on the joy of betting it all on Jesus and His purposes.

Chasing Jesus is to make Him our first priority in all things. Chasing His Kingdom is to join Him in His work in this world. It is to see all of life as sacred, not just Sundays. It is to see everything we do and think as important to Him and desire what He desires. But here is the cool thing. He says that when we put Him first and care about the things He cares about, our lives are richer and better and fuller and complete. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” So, Jesus says, you can chase after money and security and worry yourself sick over all kinds of things or embrace me and my purposes and find real and true life. 

This Lenten series has been about less of us and more of Jesus. Of bringing our lives more fully into His will and embracing His purposes for our lives in a new and profound way. That is what it means to seek His Kingdom and His righteousness. Every time I take a further step of obedience in my life, I seek His Kingdom. Each time I bring another area of my life into conformity with Him, I am chasing after His Kingdom. When I put to death areas of sin in my life, I am seeking His righteousness. When I care about the helpless, the powerless, and those marginalized in society, I am chasing His righteous purposes in our world.

The Kingdom of God is about allowing God to transform our lives into one that looks like His and to bring His values, mercy, grace, and love to every place we inhabit. When my wife Cleo serves her clients at the assisted care facility she works at, she brings the love and care of Jesus into that place. When my friend Sue visits shut ins and those with health challenges, she brings the love and hope of Jesus to people whose outlook can be bleak. When my friend Roger invests in at-risk kids and shows them that there is a bigger vision for their lives, he is bringing Jesus and His hope to those who have lived in cycles of poverty sometimes for generations.

In fact, when Jesus and His Kingdom are our first priority, we become Kingdom builders with Him. He placed you where you are to bring His hope, His renovation, His Good News to the corner of the world you inhabit. And here is the crazy part. When we go all in, all the way, all the time, we experience life as we have never experienced it before. So hedge your bets and lose. Go all in and win. God doesn’t call me to change the world, but He invites me to join him in bringing his light, grace, and hope to my small corner of the world.

Are you all in, or are you hedging your bets? When we hedge our bets, we hedge God’s joy and blessing in our lives. I want to play the full hand He has given me because I know that in the end, I will experience true life if I do. 

Father, help me to go all in and seek your kingdom and your righteousness today above all other pursuits. Help me to chase real life, not pseudo-life. Don’t let me settle for building mud pies in the slums, but rather embrace your amazing vision for our world as you transform me and others into your likeness. Amen.

The question for today: What can I do today to chase after His kingdom and His righteousness and be a kingdom builder with him?