Finding the kingdom

Jesus taught that we should seek the kingdom of God.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33

A kingdom in this world should not be hard to find; it exists in a geographic place. But this kingdom does not exist in a particular place; we will not find it by going here or going there. The kingdom of God is found in righteousness, not in the right place. The kingdom of God is near to us, but it is not here.

The kingdom of God is at work in us; the good seed has been sown in our hearts. What we are seeking is not a place in this world, but the life that is growing inside us. The good seed will yield a harvest of righteousness in our life; we can recognize His kingdom working in us by what it yields.

"Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit." Matthew 7:17-18

But tares have been sown in our heart as well; not everything in our heart is good. We must seek for the kingdom among tares. The kingdom is expressed in righteousness; stumbling blocks and lawlessness do not come from the kingdom. Whatever is lawless is of the evil one.

For this reason, the search for the kingdom is in the context of what Jesus taught about anxiety.

"Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you." Matthew 6:31-33

The tares planted in us need attention to grow; the anxiety for the things of this life can give strength to tares in us. We need to deny the tares the attention they want. The tares will choke the good seed if they are allowed to grow.

We can find what we are seeking for: the kingdom of God has sown seed in our heart. We can find the kingdom of God in us, but we will find it among tares. In order to find the kingdom, we must distinguish between what is actually good and what looks good.

Our heart is deceitful above all else; we deceive ourselves for tares are at work in our heart. The only objective means to distinguish between a good tree and a bad tree is the fruit. Bad fruit is from a bad tree, even if it has some very clever excuses why the fruit is bad. The kingdom of God is near, but we may need to chop down some trees in order to find the good tree.

Is it odd that the spirit of this age engenders a desire in us to hold on to everything? He is trying to hide the kingdom of God in the clutter of what we have filled our life with.