In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

The Greek word translated kingdom in the New Testament, while sometimes referring to the realm over which a ruler reigns, primarily refers to the rule or reign itself. When Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God, what He is enjoining us to do is to allow God to reign over our lives. Indeed, we should seek God’s rule in every action and decision we make in life. We should train ourselves to first ask “is this God’s will” before we engage in any kind of activity. Seeking first the kingdom of God, then, begins with the heart. Good Christians are good from the inside out.

What makes this difficult sometimes is our propensity to put our own will and wants before everything else. Society, at least American society, teaches us to do this from an early age. In this country we place a high premium on personal pleasure and the importance of being happy, so most conclude that to achieve real happiness, we must be able to do whatever we want. This way of thinking naturally interferes with the command of Jesus to seek God’s will first. However, this is not just a 21st century problem. Being self-willed is a problem with which man has always struggled. In Philippians 2:21, Paul said “for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.”

When we obeyed the gospel of Christ and became citizens in the kingdom of God, that “self-will” mentality should have begun to dissipate. When we turned our lives over to the Lord by obeying the gospel, we agreed to crucify the flesh (Galatians 5:24). Paul crucified himself for Christ (Galatians 2:20). As a result of this figurative crucifixion that Paul experienced, he no longer sought first and foremost the things that brought him pleasure, but instead, he allowed God and His will to rule his life.

Who is reigning over your life? While you answer this question by the manner of your life, it all begins with your thinking. If you seek the kingdom of God first, then your philosophy of life is to consider the will of God first in all that you do. “Is this what Gods wants me to do or say, or a place where God’s wants me to go?” These are the kind of questions that we will ask ourselves before we act because we now put God’s will first, not our own.

Does Jesus have the right to demand this kind of mental submission from those who have obeyed the gospel? Yes, first because He is divine, but also because He is the ultimate example for us in this regard. When Jesus humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant, He obeyed His Father perfectly. That is how He became our Savior.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

1 Peter 2:22

Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.

How did Jesus live without sin in His life? The obvious answer for some might be that He was God. However, apart from His deity, and from a more practical and useful standpoint, at least so much as we are concerned, Jesus simply made up in His mind that he would please God in everything (John 8:29). Jesus once said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). And then, of course, there is the famous garden statement of our Lord: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). 

Will you allow yourself to have the mind of Christ? Let God rule over your life. It starts with allowing God to rule over your heart.