When You Need A Change, Do This First

Leon FontaineDevoted

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33 (NLT)

Do you ever get frustrated trying to change areas of your life? Maybe you would like to become a better person, parent, spouse or friend, and you’re frustrated because your efforts don’t seem to be yielding results. Or you might be trying to make better choices, but you seem to fall back to the same old habits.

It’s great that you were trying to better yourself, I’m not suggesting that you should stop doing that. However, you may be missing a very important piece of the puzzle.

You see, you will never find joy in self-improvement. Fulfillment isn’t found in completed tasks. It’s not found in miracles or answered prayer. Your life doesn’t suddenly feel complete when you get that position or title that you’ve always wanted. Even writing a song that the whole world sings and is bringing people to Christ doesn’t make your life complete. Although these are great things, on their own none of them will fulfill you. You need a relationship with Jesus.

You will be unfulfilled if you spend your whole life doing stuff for a Jesus that you never get to know.

All other things need to be secondary to your relationship with Jesus. Our verse today doesn’t say to seek godly character traits or good habits first. It doesn’t say to seek miracles for answered prayers. It doesn’t even say to seek after doing great things for God first. It says to seek His kingdom and His righteousness. Or as the Message Bible puts it, steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.

Go after a vibrant, active relationship with God as your first priority, and all these things will be added to you.