Is it easy to seek first the kingdom!?
Have a listen to Christian apologist, John Lennox, explain our state:
Jesus said to his followers in the Sermon on the mount that those who follow him were ‘the salt of the earth’ and ‘the light of the world’ (Matthew 5:13-14). They were to have a profound influence on the society in which they lived, being a salty preservative to stem decay and blazing a path for others to follow. That is, their lives were to be active not passive.
They were to be Jesus’ witnesses to the world by how they lived and what they said. Those two things belonged together- what they said would only be credible if it was also modelled in their lives; and people would only understand their lives if they spoke about and explained this. Jesus’ disciples were to be characterised by living out their faith in public, rather than keeping their faith private. They were to prove their authenticity as Christians by deliberately and willingly swimming against the stream.
That doesn’t mean they were never afraid. Indeed Peter denied he even knew Jesus when a girl challenged him at the time of Jesus’ trial. He became so scared ‘he swore black and blue’ that he didn’t have anything to do with Jesus.
Yet a few weeks later, when hostile religious authorities tried to sensor the apostle the same Peter said, ‘we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard’ (Acts 4:20). They were not going to be silenced. Later Peter wrote to his fellow Christians everywhere and so to us: ‘always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you’ (1 Peter 3:15).
Yet many of us don’t always feel prepared. If we are honest, some of us don’t really feel ready at all. We get scared of what people may say. The pressure to silence the public witness of Christians, has not gone away. It is very real. Indeed in many parts of the world the secular and religious opposition has intensified to the extent that particularly in the West the dominant attitude is that religion is a private business and should be kept that way. As a result many Christians have been effectively silenced.
~ John Lennox Have No Fear: Being salt and light even when it’s costly.
How will you seek first the kingdom, then, in 2025? Pray will be a priority and hearing God speak to you too! Do you remember what Joshua was encouraged to do?: Meditate on God’s word morning and night and be strong and courageous!!
Therefore, here are some devotional resources to help you meditate on God’s word in 2025.
And don’t be afraid to memorise too!! Don’t be intimidated!!! (See the 2 min video below):
Check out our “Off by Heart” for 2025 Matthew 6:19-34:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
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