“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Jesus
Matthew 6:33 NASB
“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” Jesus
Luke 18:17 NASB
Have you ever begun a project and found you did not have everything you needed to complete it? My wife, Melinda, creates beautiful artisan pieces of jewelry. When working on a specific pattern like a signature bracelet called 'Beautiful', she depends on the supply of gems and crystals needed to complete the bracelet. If even one bead needed is not in her inventory, she cannot complete the project. Our friend, Joanna, when building a cake, cannot complete the cake if even one necessary ingredient is not in her cupboard. My son-in-law is a builder. If he is awarded a contract for a project, he must have all the materials required to bring that project to completion. Do you ever feel as if your life is missing certain pieces necessary to live that life abundantly? Dare I say that if we are in Christ we do have everything we need to do just that?! In the moment we stepped into faith in Christ and were born again, we were ushered into the kingdom of God...lacking in nothing we need to live an abundant life!
What is the kingdom of God? It is God’s rule and reign in the here and now, past and future, spanning the universe. God is in control, pure and simple, causing all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. To enter that eternal kingdom requires child-like faith in Jesus. An exchange of our life with His. A child trusts implicitly. When I was a small boy, I can recall standing atop a fence rail and my dad extending his arms toward me, beckoning me to jump. I did not hesitate. Why? Because I trusted him to do what he promised - to keep his word - that he would catch me. And he was true to his word. He kept his promise…and he was an earthly father, so how much more can we trust our heavenly Father to keep His promises…to keep His Word? We will never know if we do not trust Him.
I entered the kingdom of God on November 7, 1981 when I trusted Father God with my life by confessing my sin and receiving the work of the cross. I was born again. In that child-like step of faith, I leapt from the fence-rail of my old identity and into the arms of the One Who gave me my existence in the first place, allowing Him to show me who He intended for me to be all along. In a very real sense, He exchanged His life for mine and I exchanged my life for His. The old me was crucified and buried and the new me was made alive to God, my slate wiped clean and my eyes opened to the grand possibilities and wonders and mysteries of the Kingdom of God!
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB
I can look at my physical body and see reflections of my earthly father, from my body type to my personality and musical abilities. Every time I sneeze, I hear my dad! So much of who he is is in me that even my sneezes stir up the realization that I am more like him than I ever realized! Why? Because his DNA flows through my physical veins. Why do we not think about our spiritual DNA in the same manner? Either we have our heavenly Father’s DNA flowing through our spiritual veins or we do not. If we do, that changes everything! When Jesus exchanged our life for His on the cross, we were granted access to this DNA change. When we were born again, our spiritual DNA was forever changed as well!
By virtue of this exchange of life by His divine power, I was granted every single thing I would ever need pertaining to life and to godliness…to living abundantly and to thinking and acting like my Father. Every single thing I would ever need! That is an amazing statement! It is through knowing Christ and being born again that I was granted such magnificent provision.
This is a promise from God we can take to the bank. It is when we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness that all our needs are met. That’s Matthew 6:33 in a nutshell. We were granted access to the kingdom by a step of faith and once we were planted in said kingdom, we were called to live out our lives to the glory of God - to live in an excellent way. He has promised us a way of escape when temptation comes. We are no longer children of the flesh, ruled by lust. We are children of the Most High God and partakers in the divine nature of our Father, His spiritual DNA flowing through our veins! And just how do we live that out? By believing and trusting with child-like faith.
Just what is our DNA? We find a great deal of what our spiritual or kingdom DNA is in 2 Peter 1:1-11. Let’s take a look at what we find there. This is my interpretation of what this passage says about who I am:
He placed within us the desire to seek Him with all diligence. To seek Him with diligence is to seek Him with earnest haste. As new creations in Christ, we are to think his thoughts because we were given the mind of Christ when we were born again…whether we walk in it or not. Why do you think we must be diligent in the renewal of our mind? To stop thinking in our old sinful thought patterns? To exchange those wrong thoughts with right-thinking according to the way our Father thinks?
To seek Him with diligence means we seek Him quickly as if our life depends on it…because it DOES! As we seek Him with child-like faith we gain everything we need by simply believing His promises to be true - then walking in them! When we realize we have believed a lie and then renounce that lie and replace it with the truth, our feelings change. When our feelings change, our attitudes change. When our attitudes change, our behaviors change. Why would we not seek Him and to think like Him with all diligence?
We walk by faith and not by what we see with our physical eyes. According to Hebrews 11:2 NASB, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Our hope and assurance are in Jesus - THE living Word of God. We walk in faith by walking intimately with Jesus. We walk intimately with Jesus by receiving and believing He is with us and in us.
We diligently step out in faith and apply to our faith moral excellence. Moral excellence is purity of thought, thinking holy thoughts just as our Father thinks.
To our moral excellence we add knowledge. Knowledge is the understanding that we see life and the world from God’s point of view. This is called wisdom.
To our knowledge we are to add self-control. Self-control is simply applying the rule of God to our own thoughts and to stand as a guard over the choices we make. Self-control is the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions. My personal belief is that in the kingdom way of thinking I submit my will to that of the Father and the result is self-control.
To our self-control we are to add perseverance. Perseverance is patient continuance in spite of the circumstances or sufferings one must face in life…like keeping on heading toward Jesus through the storms of life…like continuing to cut one’s way through the dense jungle life can be at times. According to Strong’s Concordance, perseverance is “the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.”
To our perseverance we are to add godliness, Godliness is simply believing we are the sons and daughters of the Most High God and that we are like Him in the very essence of our identity by virtue of His spiritual DNA flowing through our spiritual veins. Godliness is reverence and respect for who and Whose we are!
To our godliness we are to add brotherly kindness. Brotherly kindness is simply loving the family of God. As kingdom seekers and kingdom dwellers, we are to recognize no man according to the flesh, but rather, we are to view them as Father views them. This means extending kindness to those who don’t have a clue as to Who Jesus is by seeing them as Father does: potential children of the kingdom. This also means extending kindness to brothers and sisters we may not agree with. Blessing those who curse us. Loving those who hate us.
To our brotherly kindness we are to add love. Love is the Word agape, which means the love that lays down its life for a friend. This love flows through our spiritual veins! This is part of who and Whose we are!
If we are in Christ, then all these qualities are already in us! This means that if we are breathing we are of great use to the King and to the kingdom! By simply existing and believing we are who Father says we are we are called to extend the kingdom of God WITH Him! We are called to share the Gospel and to make disciples. We can all do that!
The only conclusion I can come to after reading this passage is that I have everything I need to conduct the kingdom business with my Father…but it is up to me to walk in it…up to me to receive it and believe it. What does this passage tell you about your spiritual DNA? It’s already in you. It’s up to you and me to release it…but in so doing, we also walk in the reality of having all our needs met because our Father keeps His promises. Remember:
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Jesus
Matthew 6:33 NASB
Dennis Jernigan
2 Peter 1:1-11 NASB
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of [the] divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in [your] moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in [your] knowledge, self-control, and in [your] self-control, perseverance, and in [your] perseverance, godliness,
7 and in [your] godliness, brotherly kindness, and in [your] brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if these [qualities] are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these [qualities] is blind [or] short-sighted, having forgotten [his] purification from his former sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
2 Peter 1:1-11 NASB
