“The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn. The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men. Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.”
Joel 1:1, 3-20 KJV,https://bible.com/bible/1/jol.1.1-20.KJV
First Things First
There are plenty of things in life that beg for our attention. Our days are filled with relationships and responsibilities, all of which take time.
In Jesus’ famous sermon in Matthew 6, He spends some time talking about the various things we give our attention to. He explains that instead of spending all of our time and energy worrying about our basic need and desires in life, we should first seek His kingdom and His righteousness. If we do that, everything else will fall into place.
So, what does it mean to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness?
God’s kingdom is about God’s rule and reign over all of creation. His kingdom was unleashed during Jesus’ ministry on earth, and is now growing and expanding throughout the global Church. The work of the kingdom is to continue to tell others about the hope of Jesus, and to teach everything that Jesus has commanded.
To seek God’s righteousness is to desire to live the way God intended. It's to live according to God’s...