"Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness...", how to understand?

In the Book of Matthew, in chapter 6, from verse 31 to 34, Jesus gives the following instruction to his disciples: Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

 

The above text is used as an argument by many who have no willingness to work and guarantee their own sustenance, and some even wanting to pass themselves off as spiritual people, claim not to worry about material life, as everything will be left here.

 

The part of the text that says: "seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness" Has no relation whatsoever to stopping working to stay praying, otherwise this text would be in conflict with the texts below:

 

We did not eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.

 

Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you while we preached the gospel of God to you.

 

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat." We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive and don't work at all. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.

 

When we observe the life of Daniel we can understand how great is the need to always be connected to God, and even with all his occupations, working, taking care of many provinces, he was never careless, leaving the Kingdom of God in second place. He prayed three times a day, and even when he ran the risk of death he did not give up his faith, and maintained his deep relationship with God firm. Not even work is capable of keeping us away from Our Lord Jesus, for true worshippers must worship him in spirit and in truth.

 

We will better understand the meaning of the text: "seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness", in the text below in which Jesus also instructs his disciples about how we should pray and conduct ourselves in relation to the Kingdom of God. 

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation."

 

It is well known that this prayer, known as the "Our Father" prayer, is not words that we should repeat every time we go to pray, but rather a way of knowing who we are talking to, and what our posture should be before him.

 

 

He begins the instruction with the words "Father, hallowed be your name", this teaches us that when we enter into the presence of the Lord, we need to recognize that we are before the one who is Father and who is in heaven, that is, at a higher level,  and who caused the existence not only of mine, but of all of us, and being so, I must present myself in humility, recognizing his superiority, and not only with my cause, but also with the needs of other people, of whom God is also Father, so that he can act in my favor, and also help others in their needs, that is, we need to pray for one another, for this is a prayer made in the plural, also thinking of the collective. 

 

When it is said "hallowed be your name", it is so that we know that Jesus, God with us, is not just a name, but a Holy name, for it is the name of God, name above all names, as stated in Philippians 2:9, and it is for this and other reasons that we should not take the name of Jesus in vain.

 

In the part that says "your kingdom come; your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.", the intention is to drive us to want to bring the kingdom of God here to earth, where we must place him as God, Lord and King above everything and everyone, and us as his servants, making his will prevail here on earth, just as it is in heaven, for in heaven all his angels worship him and obey him all the time, without questions, contrary to what we do almost always. 

 

In the words: "Give us each day our daily bread;", it is a way of telling us that everything comes from him, so that in us there is recognition that every day he is the Lord who guarantees our food, even if it comes through our efforts in work, for when we analyze carefully, we realize that everything comes from God, and that we have no merit at all,  for he himself said: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Jo 15:5

 

In the text where it says "And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us", it is so that we know that before asking or desiring forgiveness from God, we need to forgive one another, for we are constantly committing sins against our Lord and making mistakes against our neighbors, and if we want forgiveness it is necessary that we also practice the act of forgiving.

 

In this way, we can categorically assert that the part of the text that says "Give us each day our daily bread;",  also has no relation to stopping working and waiting for food to come to our mouth. We see for example that even with manna falling from Heaven, the people needed to gather, collect the food of each day, in short, they needed to have the work of gathering their daily portion, that is, never expecting in God had anything to do with idleness, with not being necessary to work, quite the opposite, for someone who does not work, claiming to be spiritual, ends up being a source of shame for the body of the Church, for certainly he is being a burden to someone, and instead of attracting people to the kingdom of God, to the gospel, he prevents them from arriving due to his bad example. 

 

Praying is part of the pursuit of the kingdom, but being only praying is not, for when we pray we make thanks, we ask for guidance and then we go out to practice what the Lord commands us in response to our prayers.
There was a moment when Moses was rebuked by God, for just crying out (Praying) and failing to walk towards the promised land, see the text: "Then the Lord said to Moses: Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on." Exodus 14:15.

 

This text does not mean that we cannot or should not work or make reserves from the fruits of our work, in fact this is a sign of prudence. We just should not turn our reserves into our treasures, because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If we act as the psalmist did, who said: "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you."  Psalm 73:25, acting in this way our heart will be guarded in the Lord Jesus.

We see for example Joseph in Egypt, by guidance from God, after being placed as governor, fmaking reserves so that they could have supply and be able to withstand the seven years of scarcity that would come upon the land. It was never wrong to work and make reserves. The mistake that many make is to ignore the source of everything, that is, to not know that it is God who guarantees all provision and has control of everything in his hands. The failure is not to give honor, glory, praise to God, who has always provided for us in all things.

 

Seeking first the kingdom of God means assuming the condition of servant, placing God as the first, above all priorities, acting as one who does everything to please their Lord (Owner), having no will of their own, denying oneself, and always being under the obedience and authority of God, recognizing him as King and Lord, who has all dominion over us and over all things. To prioritize the Kingdom of God is to always be surrendered to his will, obeying and acting with submission wherever we are, whether at work, at school and anywhere else,  conducting ourselves as citizens of heaven, as someone who represents the King of kings, and who is part of the heavenly kingdom. 

 

In the book of Genesis in chapter 26, God guides Isaac to stay in Gerar, even though there had come a great famine upon the land, greater than the one that happened in the days of Abraham.
Let's see the text: "Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine during Abraham's time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said: "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws." So Isaac stayed in Gerar. Genesis 26:1-6. 

 

My certainty  is that at the very least Isaac had food reserves, for him and all his servants to be able to endure the bad times that came. I believe that making reserves was a practice from that time on, and prudent people have always done it, for it was only after some time that Isaac planted and harvested, and was rewarded for obeying God, for placing him above everything, above all priorities. Let's observe the text: "Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds, and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him." Genesis 26:12-14. 

 

If we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, as our brothers of the past did, following the examples of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and many others, believing that our God takes care of us, working, acting prudently. There is no shadow of doubt that we will be supplied with everything we need, in all areas of life. In fact, it does nothing good to worry, to be concerned with food, drink, or clothes and so many other things. What we need is to believe in the Lord, and act  as obedient servants, and he will make us more than conquerors.