100 Days on Jesus’ Sermon Mount (Day 65)

Jesus said, “... go in search of God’s kingdom and his concept of what is right, then all these things will be yours as well.”

— Matthew 6:33 (USC)

God’s will is that we so fall in love with him, his Word, his Spirit, and his wisdom and righteousness that we would want nothing more than to do his will.

Now, the opposite place to this place, above, is where we are so backwashed in a desire of our hearts that doesn’t appear, for that time being at least, to be the will of God. Maybe it’s a relationship outcome we are desperate for. Perhaps it’s a sin to be released from (which would have to be God’s will). Possibly it’s a career or family goal that’s continually blocked.

When nothing that isn’t important to God is sought, we are closer to being in alignment with his purposes. When we find ourselves subsumed in God, his purposes comes alive in us, and suddenly joy is possible; peace, too.

The best protection afforded the spiritual life is the willingness to throw all away to be captivated by God’s exigent will.

That’s the very real meaning of life: to urgently press into God’s will.

That is, to want every one of our relationships to be a blessing to the other person; to use time wisely without coveting it; to be ever in touch, prayerfully, with the Holy Spirit; to plan the accomplishment of every good thing that it’s obvious is for us to do, et cetera.

The purpose of our lives, as Matthew 6:33 ascribes, is to get lost in the pursuit of God; to continue each day to go in search of his Kingdom and his righteousness.

Getting lost in the pursuit of God is to be found in the very thick of ourselves.

When we divine the perfect will of God, as we can discern it in our own lives, we are in the lap of his Presence as well as being in the sweet spot of his joy!

Matthew 6:33 is the first-things-first of faith. If we put this instruction in our minds, and fix it there, and we ask God’s Spirit to engrave it on our hearts, we will most certainly ever experience God’s blessed Presence to the ends of knowing and wanting his will over our lives.

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QUESTIONS in REVIEW:

1.     We often think of our will over God’s will — when we do factor God into the equation. How can we more frequently have God front and centre of mind?

2.     What will it be like when God is actually at the forefront of our thinking most of the time? If you are already there, or have been there, how do you maintain such a relationship with the living Lord?

3.     What desires of your heart might you need to surrender to God in order to align with the desires of his heart (which occasionally may, in fact, be the same as we learn later)?

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.

Note: USC version is Under the Southern Cross, The New Testament in Australian English (2014). This translation was painstakingly developed by Dr. Richard Moore, a NT Greek scholar, over nearly thirty years.