Lenten Reflection - Day 6, March 7

But seek His Kingdom & these things will be given to you as well.

Luke 12:31

Additional Reading: Luke 12:16-34; Matthew 25:31-46

One thing is very clear to me about the Kingdom of God. Learning about it is the key to understanding God’s deepest desires. Although we’ll never be able to understand it fully in this life, the aspects that we discover and make a part of our life will change our lives drastically - not overnight, but drastically. One of the transforming aspects of the Kingdom way of life is seeking to live for what God cares about more than seeking to live for what we care about.

There are many directions to go with that concept. One is focusing on those who God calls “the least of these.” These are the physically, emotionally, and spiritually needy - the outcasts and strangers, the forsaken and abandoned - the ones who have no hope, no chance, and no voice. God is so passionate about the least of these that He says in Matthew 25:45 that if we don’t live our lives being servants to these people, we have missed our opportunity to live our lives serving Jesus.

That is huge to me. I can’t get over it…and I don’t want to get over it. In our world, in my life, I really do want to seek His Kingdom and serve the least of these more than I seek my own career, money, comfort, and fun; but I don’t think I am…at least not to the degree God desires. That doesn’t make me feel guilty. It makes me feel like there’s a lot I need to let God deal with, a lot that needs to change. It shows me that I will have to lose a little for them to gain a little; and I’ll have to lose a lot for them to gain a lot. God’s words in Matt. 25 force me to see the connection between the Church and the least of these, and just how close that connection is.

Maybe a first step in seeking God about this is to make changes in our life that would give Him a chance to speak to us. Usually when we talk about fasting, we are referring to denying ourselves food. But a “consumer fast” is a fast to deny ourselves from buying things that we don’t need for a specific amount of time - perhaps for a week or for the 40 days of Lent. It’s not so much about the money we’d save as it is about how our hearts could be permanently changed. I believe God would show us the sin in our hearts that causes the excess we live in, and I believe He would show us ways to evaluate a balanced lifestyle of needs and wants. I believe also that God would reveal to us ways to better the lives of others instead of our own lives. Receiving God’s wisdom about money and possessions is a good place to start if we are desiring to seek first His Kingdom.

God’s Kingdom is a place where the first are last and the last are first. The American dream tells us it is great to have the best and be the first to get it. But this is the opposite of God’s dream for His church to be used to bring the world to Him. How will the world know that God is generous and loving? By our example. That’s the way He planned it, for better or for worse. We cannot say we love the least of these and at the same time seek a life far different from theirs. If we bridge the gap between them and us, we are bridging the gap between them and Jesus.

Let’s consider this Scripture together in prayer today: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words and tongue but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:16-18