It was once said to me that, “the heart wants what the heart wants.” In our flesh, this is very true. However, the Word of God instructs us: “If you then be risen with Christ (to a new life), seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead (have died to this world) and your (new) life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3. We are explicitly instructed to set our affections; our attractions; our feelings; our love “on things above.” Yet the most preached, taught, and received message in the Church world is about “things on the earth” such as money, houses, cars – stuff – things that are temporary.  Colossians 3:2, AMP, “Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above (the heavenly things), not on things that are on the earth (which have only temporal value).”

In Luke 12:15, Jesus said, “Watch out and guard yourselves against every form of greed; for not even when one has an overflowing abundance does his life consist of nor is it derived from his possessions.” In spite of Jesus’ warning, we, His people, have gotten it twisted. Generally speaking, we don’t “feel” like we are blessed unless we have received a financial or material “blessing.” Somewhere along this journey, we began to covet and desire riches that would afford us stuff and prestige. We confused seeking stuff with seeking His Kingdom despite Jesus’ caution that our lives does not “consist of nor is it derived from” our possessions.

Jesus’ teachings in the twelfth chapter of Luke, clearly and emphatically demonstrated what we were not to seek after, and He also laid out example after example of the Father’s faithfulness to provide for His children. Jesus gave the example of the ravens that neither sow nor reap but God feeds them. He then told us that in God’s sight we are much more than birds. Jesus also gave the example of lilies – how they don’t work, but God dresses them beautifully. He assured us that if God did that for grass, He will do even more for us – His children. Jesus summed it up by stating that we worry because we do not believe. He said, “ye of little faith.” We do not believe God will do what He said He would do, therefore, we bombard Heaven with petitions for the very things Jesus told us not to worry about. In Luke 12:30, Jesus said, “seek not what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be you of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after… Therefore, when we set our hearts to seek for stuff, we are following the pattern of the world. We are not seeking His Kingdom.

Jesus said in Luke 12:32, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” Jesus had already explained that the Kingdom consisted of things above, eternal things, spiritual things. This is the Kingdom that He wants us to seek after. This is the Kingdom that the Father takes pleasure in giving to His children. Paul said in Romans 14:17, “For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” This is what we should be seeking; we should be seeking God’s will and God’s way – not assuming, not rationalizing, not intellectualizing, but actively seeking what God desires of us, so that He can do in us and through us what He wants to do.

Lastly, Jesus said to “lay up treasures in heaven where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupts. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Luke 12:33-34. Where are our hearts? What is our hearts’ posture? Is it in seeking treasures here on this earth? Is it in seeking our own plans for our lives; our own selfish desires? Let us turn our hearts again to seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Let’s speak to our heart and tell it that we want our Father and “His Kingdom to come, and His will to be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10.