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Cart Before the Horse

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."  Matt. 6:33

I love the songs that we sing in church that come verbatim from Scripture.  For me, there's no easier way to memorize God's Word than by putting it to music.  There's something about adding a tune to some words that makes it stick in your brain a little easier!  Once you get the song in your head, all you have to do is remember the passage that it comes from and you've got Scripture hidden away in your heart for who knows how long!

A song that comes directly from Scripture is one that has been sung for many years called "Seek Ye First."  I remember singing the short chorus as a child and it was probably one of the first Bible verses that I put to memory without even realizing it.  The message in the verse, and therefore in the song, can be such a powerful guide to our misguided lives.

We seem to be so good about getting involved in something and we invest a lot of time and energy into whatever it is and then we try to seek God's approval on it.  Sometimes we don't even seek His approval, but we'll begin praying that He'll bless us and what we have become involved in, never thinking for one moment that what we're participating in might be outside of His will for our lives.

When we neglect the sequence of how the events in the life of a Christian should take place, we always end up with a sense of unsettledness, doubt, and many times a really big mess on our hands!

Scripture is very clear and is echoed through the chorus that I remember singing as a child that whenever we seek after God's will first and foremost, then everything always turns out for our good and His glory. 

There was a critical scene in the movie Apollo 13 where Gary Senise's character, Ken Mattingly, was desperately trying to come up with a way to get the broken down spaceship back to earth using only a miniscule amount of power.  As he spent hours in the flight simulator mapping out a plan so that it could eventually be sent up into outer space for the actual crew, he said something that I believe is very important for us all to learn. When trying to get all of the computer systems up and running on the ship and then realizing that they were over their max on available power, Ken Mattingly said something to the effect of "It's not what we're doing, it's the sequence in which we're doing it in."

Isn't that the problem with what we typically try to do?  We get the sequence of things out of proper order.  We like to get the cart before the horse and then we wonder why things don't go well or why we're so unsettled or lacking contentment in everything we attempt.  If we would use the guide that He perfectly laid out for us in His Word of seeking Him FIRST and seeking after the things that would glorify Him, then I truly believe that the turmoil in our lives would diminish significantly.

If you are like me and desiring to see God's purpose fulfilled in your life, then we have to begin by truly seeking after Him first and foremost.  We have to lay our preferences aside and place His Kingdom at the forefront of our minds.  By keeping the cart and the horse in the proper order, God will be glorified through our lives.

Comments

  1. Praising Jesus.... thanking Him..........and thank you.

    ReplyDelete

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