Video: It's not just what you do, but how you do it...

I’ve learned that one of the biggest hindrances to walking with a healthy soul is striving, straining, and seeking to achieve things in our own strength. That is, it’s not just “doing bad” things that knock us off course. Many times, we can do “good” and miss it…

There’s a great line in the Sermon on the Mount that speaks to this…

“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). 

He tells us that if we do this that “all these things will be added to you…” 

 🤷‍♂️ What are the “these things”? 

Well, in this part of His teaching, He points to the grind of life. Everyone seeks food, clothing… the basics. 

“For after all these things the Gentiles seek…” (Matthew 6:32). 

I often thought Jesus was just telling us that, “Yeah. People in the world are anxious about the stuff of this world…”

👉 The things they’ll wear. Whether they’ll look GQ or not. Whether it was made in a sweat shop, or whether a fair wage was paid to the workers.

👉 And the things they’ll eat. Will there be enough to go around? Will it be gluten free? Is it organic or grass fed or does it have carcinogens or other random things that might hurt you in it?

👉 And everything else in life. Jobs. The kids’ soccer practice. Dance recital. Traffic. The car. 

In other words, I thought Jesus was just comparing what He’s telling you to seek, as opposed to what most people seek. 

Remarkably, though, it's not just the “object" of that search which He’s suggesting should be different; it's also the manner of “seeking.” You see, the word seek in the passage is two different words (in the Greek language) which we've translated the same in English.

Jesus says seek “as a hunger, without labor or toil.” 

The Gentiles seek “with much sweat, toil, stress, anxiety.”

We could rephrase what Jesus tells us to do like this: “Hunger / desire (without labor or toil) for His kingdom and His righteousness… and everything else comes your way, too.”

See it the difference?

✅ The seeking Jesus tells us to do is simply to desire… to trust… and to be prepared to receive. 

❌ The seeking the world tells us to do is to, well… hustle. 

Jesus says, in effect, ““My grace out-performs your hustle. Rest in it.”

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