Seeking His Kingdom (Lent 15-2019)

Jesus’ disciples were astonished that their lack of faith was so transparent. It’s like Jesus could see right through them. One after another, their ongoing silence betrayed that each of them felt convicted by that “you of little faith.” Not one of them was going to point a finger at the others as if Jesus’ words applied to someone else. They were all guilty as charged.

It had been said with a smile and with reassurance in that voice Jesus had when He was saying a deep truth. It delivered a punch like a velvet-gloved fist and a light hand. Jesus grieved for how they felt about their faith, but He also wanted them to know that it wasn’t hopeless. Indeed, there was a perfect solution. So He continued,

Luke 12:30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

If the Father knows we need them,” the disciples pondered, “then why do we even need to pray about them?

That question, a riddle and a mystery, enveloped them like a fog, but no one asked Jesus. The pagan world runs to get what they want, but we pray for what we need. Isn’t that what makes us different than the pagan world? That we pray for things? Isn’t that how we seek the kingdom? Or is seeking the kingdom something else?” These questions and more hung heavy in the air of silent reflection. As usual, they were afraid to ask Jesus because they didn’t want to look stupid or even more faithless than “you of little faith.”

Think about it:

Do we ever wonder why we bother to pray?
Have you ever been disappointed because something you prayed about—even religiously—failed to produce the outcome you wanted?
Does that situation grow your faith or challenge it?

Thank You, Lord, that while You may convict us, there is no condemnation for those of us in Christ Jesus. Your love and grace cover us and heal our grief. We acknowledge our frailty and our inability to understand the deep things of faith apart from Your Holy Spirit’s enlightenment. We ask, Lord Jesus, for more faith, more of You, in order to live our lives with the kind of power You want Christians to know and experience. May our actions and our faith in difficulties set us apart in the eyes of the world and may they come to know You as Savior, Redeemer, Deliverer, and Messiah! Amen.

If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2019 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this great look at the Easter story to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals remain popular,

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.