READ: Luk. 12:22-34
But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. – Luk. 12:31
The first three petitions are focused on God’s name, will, and kingdom. Now three petitions follow in which we ask things for ourselves as God’s children and His church. Yet these last three petitions are also connected to the first three. They are all about our lives with and for the Lord, personally and as a church. Even when we pray for our daily bread, that bread (and all that goes with it) is important to us only in our service to the Lord. In the first three petitions, God’s help is asked in our efforts to live with and for Him. Now those efforts are helped through the fulfillment of our bodily and spiritual needs.
In the fourth petition, we first pray for what we need for our bodies: “Give us this day our daily bread.” “Give” is here a plea and not a demand. We ask this as children who can only live by grace. We do not deserve God to provide us with food, drink, clothing, shelter, physical and psychological health. In Adam, we lost everything, but in Christ we may ask this reverently and boldly at the same time.
We are not asking so that we can use it for ourselves apart from God. No, we were bought by Christ and are now His property. That is why the Lord says in Matt. 6:33, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things [including those of the fifth petition] shall be added to you.”
Your life must be directed towards that kingdom, the Lord, and His service. The Kingdom indicates that you have fellowship with God and want to follow and serve Him obediently. For that you need food and all other necessities of life. This is decisive for your entire life fulfilment. At the same time, these words give peace: the Lord will take care of you, no matter what may happen, while you live close to Him.
How do you seek the Kingdom of God?
Singing: Ps. 146:3