The Morning of Saturday, April 13th, 2024 😎

Good morning, dear Reader, and welcome! Thank you for joining me on this beautiful day above ground for morning devotion again!💜 I just rolled out of bed, grabbed a quick cup of coffee, threw on a warm robe, and now I'm here, listening to this:

(click here for lyrics to the first song) I'm going to have to remember to go do that blood test so my doctor can send me to the two specialists. (Lord, I hope You will help me with that today, please, in Jesus' Name, amen). 
(click here for lyrics to this next song of Praise)
And, this one just keeps playing in my head. How awesome God is! 

There is always so much that I want to share about God and His Word here, but there is only limited space and I also have a desire to condense this for you so that it's a five-minute read or less, given the shortness of everyone's attention span these days. I'm not being mean to you, or to anyone else for that matter; technology has done that to us (as a whole society). After all, when one eats a steak, it's typically done one bite at a time. Trust and believe that the meat of the Word deserves careful attention and consideration; the more we endeavor to grasp It, the harder we search It out, the more we will benefit from the effort. Here's a classic, familiar Scripture toward that end:

Take heart, dear Reader, because that Scripture (among so many others) is pregnant with a holy promise for you! All we have to do is make God a priority in our lives; Jesus' sacrifice proves what He already thinks of us, after all. 💔

So let's break that down today, shall we? (Today is a meditative approach to that one single passage. Let's mull it over, focus on It, and really give It a chance to get way down deep in to the gut of who we are in Him). 

Let's start by examining what it means "to seek". First, the dictionary's definition of the word (from the Webster's Dictionary of 1828) is "to seek after, to make pursuit, to attempt to find or take".

Here's a real life example of "seeking" from my own life (recently). I lost an earring and MAN did we seek it out! We lifted the furniture, we got on our hands and knees, I mean we looked and looked for that thing. But that's a great example of "seeking" from regular life. We're supposed to commit that kind of purpose and passion in ferreting out His Word and what it means to us as His children. 💙 The word "seek" occurs in 43 of the Bible's 66 books and occurs 233 times (in the Bible)! That must mean it's really important, yes?
Don't get me wrong here; casually reading through the Word is still going to benefit you, but, the more effort you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. Consider this, especially the very last line:

Ok, so you might be asking yourself "so what exactly IS the Kingdom of God?" Well, let's see. Here's a secular definition according to Google: 

Fun fact: the phrase "the Kingdom of God" occurs over seventy times in the New Testament, with thirty of those times being in the synoptic Gospel of Matthew alone! And here is (one Scripture that defines) what the Word has to say about the Kingdom of God:

Now, the next part of the Scripture: (and) His righteousness. Okay, so what IS the righteousness of God exactly? Again, let's see as we search that out; we'll start with the secular definition of the term (again, according to Google):

The phrase "the Kingdom of God" occurs more than 80 times and is primarily found in the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And the words "righteousness" (and "righteous") occur in the Bible a whopping 540 times in 520 verses. 
The next part of Matthew 6:33 is pretty easy to grasp so I won't spend too much time on it; it's the promise that, if we prioritize Him and His Word, then "ALL these things" meaning (to me) literally everything else, all the things we need, even some of the things we want, will then be added to us. How about "all", though; what does that really mean anyway? The 1828 dictionary says "the whole quantity, extent, duration, amount, quality, or degree".

Which leads us to the final portion of Matthew 6:33 "shall be added unto you".  That is the promised end, that if we will do as He says then He will richly reward us and see to it that our time spent seeking Him and His Word out was time well spent. 

Further reading:
Today's Proverb (Proverbs 13 from the Book of Wisdom). 

Thank you for joining me this morning, dear Reader!  I hope you enjoyed this form of devotion today; let me know your thoughts - did you find this helpful or encouraging? That is my prayer and my aim and I've given both God, and you, dear Reader, my very best in the pursuit of living excellently. I pray that you will develop the curious desire to study the things of God. I also pray that you are blessed today and always. In Jesus' Name, amen. 💛