Matthew 6:26-33
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): In all this passage there is a treasury of golden lessons―Jesus Christ offers us a gracious promise, as a remedy against an anxious spirit. He assures us that if we “seek first” and foremost to have a place in the kingdom of grace and glory, every thing that we really want in this world shall be given to us. It shall be “added,” over and above our heavenly inheritance.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Let the word “first” indicate to you the order of time.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): “First things first!” It is a maxim that carries us far, and as right as far.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): It is one thing to recognize and realize that it is both our duty and wisdom to put first things first, and quite another to actually do so…What is it to put first things first?
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): First―before anything else; and first―more than any other thing.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Get right with God first―know His saving help first of all―be right with God before everything else. Trust in God first as your Saviour, and then own Him as Lord of your life. “Put first things first,” as one has said, and give the Lord the supreme place in heart and life―the divine authority over all our lives.
THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): In the first place they should seek the kingdom of God, and then, next in order, mind their worldly affairs.
A. W. PINK: Are you, my reader, fearful of the future? Afraid that when strength fails and old age comes you may be left without the necessities of life? Then suffer us to remind you that there is no need whatever for such fears. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things―temporal necessities―shall be added unto you.”
J. C. RYLE: But this we may be sure of, that David’s words are true, “I have been young, and now am old, yet never saw I the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread,” Psalm 37:25.
C. H. SPURGEON: And we also can still speak of the faithfulness of Jehovah. He who took care of His people in David’s day has not changed since then. We have not seen the righteous forsaken.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): But who are the righteous?
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Christ’s followers are the righteous here meant, made so by His righteousness.
A. W. PINK: More specifically, “righteousness” has reference, first, to the righteousness of faith whereby a sinner is justified freely by Divine grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. As the result of his Surety’s obedience being imputed to him, the believer stands legally righteous before God. As sinners who have constantly broken the Law in thought, word, and deed, we are utterly destitute of righteousness. “There is none righteous, no not one,” Romans 3:10. But God has provided a perfect righteousness in Christ for all who believe.
JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): Singly aim at this, that God, reigning in your heart, may fill it with the righteousness above described.
A. W. PINK: “O fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing,’ Psalm 34:9,10. “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly,” Psalm 84:11. But note well that each of these promises is conditional: your business is to give God the first place in your life, to fear, obey and honour Him in all things, and in return He guarantees your bread and water shall be sure―that means, make the things of the Spirit your paramount concern, and your lower interests will be automatically subserved.
H. A. IRONSIDE: Things that your heavenly Father knows you have need of. All of these things are important, tremendously important, in their place, but there is something of greater importance, and that is the “meat which endureth unto everlasting life.” And He declares that it is only the Son of Man who can give this satisfying food for the soul. That is what He came for, to seek and to save that which was lost. He came from heaven in lowly grace and became the Son of Man in order that He might meet the needs of lost sinners.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Have we trusted in Him for the portion of our inheritance at our end, and shall we not trust Him for the portion of our cup, in the way to it?
C. H. SPURGEON: God who gives you heaven will not deny you your bread on the road thither.
A. W. PINK: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:19. It is profitless to ask, How? The Lord has ten thousand ways of making good His word. Some reader of this very paragraph may be living from hand to mouth, having no stock of money or store of victuals: yea, not knowing where the next meal will come from. But if you be a child of His, God will not fail you, and if your trust be in Him, it shall not be disappointed. In some way or other “The Lord will provide.”―These promises are addressed to us, to encourage us to cleave unto God and do His will.
W. J. HOCKING (1864-1953): Happy the man who always keeps first things first. Christ is first; the Lord is first. His claims must be supreme. Let us everyone make this our life’s motto: Let the Master be first.
D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): Ask that praying sister of yours, that praying brother, any friend you have, whether it is not the very best thing you can do. And then cry to Heaven and ask Him who is sitting at the right hand of God, and who loves you more than your father or your mother or anyone on earth who loves you so much that He gave Himself for you ask Him what He will have you do, and hear His voice from the throne, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.”
