“Seek first the Kingdom of God, live righteously and he will give you everything you need”, Matthew 6:33 NLT.
So I think I got that “seek the Kingdom” part down pretty well, but that “live righteously part” always bothered me because it is a condition to getting my needs met. It’s all about me. Then I got an idea.
What if my understanding of “righteously” was not the same as God’s? So I got out my handy dandy ole Vine Expository Dictionary of New Testament Greek Words, VEDNTGW for short.
Bear with me I won’t be long on the Greek stuff.
Diakaios is the Greek word for “righteously”, which means ‘just” or without prejudice or partiality. So, I prayed and asked God to help me see this from his perspective and this is what I “saw”.
If “righteously” means not showing prejudice or partiality, then God can answer our prayer because he can act righteously towards us. He does not deal with us base on our past present or future sin. He does not take it into consideration when we pray. He can do this and be totally “just” or “without partiality” because of something he did.
He placed something between sin and us. This something gives him the legal right to answer our prayers without judging us. He placed Jesus' death between us. This does not only include Christ followers but also the whole world. Which means every creed, color, political view, socioeconomic status, and religion. Ouch! (John 3:16) His love was so strong he had to do something about our sin (the world) so he could act righteously or “without prejudice or partiality” towards us.
So to get my needs met, I put something between myself and others who scare me (with their creed, color, political view, socioeconomic, and religion) and decide to be a life-giving person. I put Jesus in the mix and guess what happens. I’m not so scared anymore. I’m usually afraid of what I don’t understand. So I don’t have to understand others and I don’t have to be afraid of them anymore.
So therefore I can play well with "others" meaning myself (I scare myself sometimes), my wife, my kids, and my “fiends” oops, my friends and those who aren't my friends yet!
Oh’ yeah and I get my needs met.
Have fun and play well with others and remember…
Be Life Giving,
Alex Anderson
Recommended reading: Love Is The Killer App!, by Tim Sanders
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