Yesterday, I came home from work under quite a bit of stress. Without going into specifics, suffice to say that I had suffered setbacks in attacking a couple of problems, both of which fall under a quickly approaching deadline. As she always does, my wife could tell without my saying a word. And, as He always does, the Holy Spirit reminded me of His promises, so I prayed, asking the Lord to provide for us. And, as He always does, God kept His Word.
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus taught us to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to [us].” This is not a promise of fabulous wealth, prosperity, or even catch-all provision, and any church or minister who preaches that it is any of those things is misleading people to their detriment. The promise is conditional, based upon whether or not we first seek His kingdom and His righteousness. But what does that even mean? To seek His kingdom and His righteousness is to walk in fellowship and obedience with the Lord, in good works which God has already prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10). If I am a true born again Christian, but I am walking in disobedience to God, then I should not expect for Him to bless my life. (I am not suggesting that He will cut us off from His provision, only that the fullness of His blessing, especially in the form of answered prayer, will be hindered.) The second part of the promise is that “all these things” is not in reference to riches. In the context of the preceding verses, we can see that “all these things” are our needs, specifically the material: food and clothing.
In Ephesians 4:10-20, Paul thanked the church at Ephesus for their giving to support the spread of the gospel, an act of seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness. And, in verse 19, he blessed them by reminding them that “God will supply all [their] needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” And this blessing was not because they were Christians, but because they were actively working to seek His kingdom and His righteousness.