“He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” – Proverbs 21:21
This proverb is chock full of a Kingdom principle. In our logic oriented, secular society we miss some of the most basic principles of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is an upside down Kingdom. Most things in the Kingdom operate exactly opposite to what we know of this world. For example:
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” – Matthew 16:24,25
In the Kingdom of God, if you want to save your life, you must lose it for His sake. If you want to lose it, you try and save it! This is exactly opposite to this world’s system. In the Kingdom of God, the first are last and the last first (Matthew 19:30) and in the Kingdom of God, the least are the greatest and the greatest are the least (Luke 9:48). In the same way, some of the things that we are commanded to pursue in the Kingdom produce benefits that we may not be anticipating or even expect. This passage tells us that if we will pursue righteousness and love, we will reap a benefit of life, prosperity and honor!
Think about how this applies to our lives:
Many people in their desire for prosperity pursue prosperity. In the pursuit of prosperity, with prosperity is the primary goal, sometimes other things suffer. Like integrity, righteousness and love. Prosperity is good, but righteousness is the foundation of God’s throne and therefore of greater importance. Prosperity is a blessing and benefit of righteousness. In the same way, love is who God is (I John 4:8). To forsake or lay aside love in pursuit of prosperity is unwise. But how many decisions do we make in the heat of the moment to pursue a lesser blessing like prosperity, laying aside love and even righteousness?
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:33
How many Christians forsake the seeking of the Kingdom of God (righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost - Romans 4:17) in their pursuit of provision when we are given the promise that if we will seek FIRST the Kingdom, everything we need will be GIVEN to us!
LIFE LESSON:
How many bunny trails are we going down in pursuit of a passing benefit of a greater blessing?
This proverb is chock full of a Kingdom principle. In our logic oriented, secular society we miss some of the most basic principles of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is an upside down Kingdom. Most things in the Kingdom operate exactly opposite to what we know of this world. For example:
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” – Matthew 16:24,25
In the Kingdom of God, if you want to save your life, you must lose it for His sake. If you want to lose it, you try and save it! This is exactly opposite to this world’s system. In the Kingdom of God, the first are last and the last first (Matthew 19:30) and in the Kingdom of God, the least are the greatest and the greatest are the least (Luke 9:48). In the same way, some of the things that we are commanded to pursue in the Kingdom produce benefits that we may not be anticipating or even expect. This passage tells us that if we will pursue righteousness and love, we will reap a benefit of life, prosperity and honor!
Think about how this applies to our lives:
Many people in their desire for prosperity pursue prosperity. In the pursuit of prosperity, with prosperity is the primary goal, sometimes other things suffer. Like integrity, righteousness and love. Prosperity is good, but righteousness is the foundation of God’s throne and therefore of greater importance. Prosperity is a blessing and benefit of righteousness. In the same way, love is who God is (I John 4:8). To forsake or lay aside love in pursuit of prosperity is unwise. But how many decisions do we make in the heat of the moment to pursue a lesser blessing like prosperity, laying aside love and even righteousness?
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:33
How many Christians forsake the seeking of the Kingdom of God (righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost - Romans 4:17) in their pursuit of provision when we are given the promise that if we will seek FIRST the Kingdom, everything we need will be GIVEN to us!
LIFE LESSON:
How many bunny trails are we going down in pursuit of a passing benefit of a greater blessing?
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