Article September 10, 2007 Issue

SEEK GOD'S KINGDOM FIRST

BY JAMES SPENCER

ONE OF CHRIST JESUS' best-known sayings is, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:33). This profound and remarkable statement is Jesus' fundamental instruction on how human needs are met.

People are always in need and seeking something. They need and seek housing, food, clothing, transportation, companionship, employment, and health, to mention just a few things. Because God is unchanging Principle and Love, it's right for all creation to have not only abundant good, but reliable good. As the Bible's book of James assures, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (1:17).

Christian Science presents the divinely scientific fact that as God's reflection of Himself, His image, we already have all that divine Love gives. We can no more lack something necessary to our well-being than we can lack God's love. Consequently, it's natural to affirm in prayer our spiritual completeness and oneness with God. And in this way, we can prove that what's true in heaven is also true on earth, as Jesus indicated in the Lord's Prayer: "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10).