“… your Father knows you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

Luke 12:30-31 (NIV)

In this verse in Luke, Jesus is saying to seek God’s kingdom and “these things” will be given to you. What are “these things”? Specifically, in the NIV, we are told those things are food and drink. Pausing here, I wondered if this verse speaks literally to those two general items, or if we can stretch it further to include all things needed by humans. I tend to think that is reasonable to make the stretch, because earlier in 27 we were talking about wild flowers and in 28 we were talking about grass of the field. These two particular items were brought up as examples of organisms that have needs. These needs are wholly filled by God. The point was that we are vastly more important, therefore we can lay down our worry and let God handle the obvious.

This is good news. If we seek hard after God’s kingdom, we will be provided what we need. These things that tend to make us anxious can be an afterthought, so that we can continue seeking God’s kingdom.

If you go to Luke 12:34 you see this.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Luke 12:34 (NIV)

Your treasure should not be in the kitchen, or at a restaurant, or at a bar, or any number of other places. Your treasure should be God. Seek after God and treasure the experience and the opportunity.

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But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33

We are asked to seek God. We are told to seek his righteousness and his kingdom. Then scripture goes on to say that those who do so will be given both. This comes from Matthew, but it sounds so much like Proverbs. I find that interesting.

What does it mean here when it says “these things”? My first reaction was that it meant the things you want . Those things could basically be anything as long as they are within reason. That thought lasted for a half of a second before God showed me that he literally meant we will receive his righteousness and wisdom. What?! That’s awesome. Can you imagine?

The thing I am realizing lately with God is that ask, seek, and knock and it shall be given refers to asking what God wants for you and when you knock it will be given. “It” refers to “what God wants for you”. It is another way of saying God’s will. God is not a vending machine, but if you are seeking his will and doing his will, then you are all set.

There are two additional words that close out this verse. Those two words are “as well”. When the scripture says “as well”, what else does God have planned? I get excited just thinking about it. What all could it be? Those two words are not simply thrown in there to increase the word count. They are important. God has many more gifts he wants to give to you, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. The “as well” will come.

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