Is there anyone who still dares to take these words of Jesus seriously? Just imagine that everyone would think like that: ‘But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.’ It would make for a nice mess in this world, for who would then see to our daily bread? No, here Jesus must have gone too far.
But now that nobody thinks like Jesus anymore, is the world not a mess?
Moreover, Jesus addresses here in particular those who follow Him. He calls upon them to dedicate themselves wholly to His service (Matthew 5:1,2). The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:14). A preacher of the gospel has no authority unless he has learned to live by faith.
What a privilege it is then to learn to trust God in this way; to find that we lack nothing indeed, if we first seek His kingdom. Then we realize the foolishness of all the worries that ruin so many people. What good is a God Who lives far away in heaven? But God is not a God far away (Jeremiah 23:23). He cares for you and me, if only we are willing to put all our burdens on Him and leave them there. Nobody will dare to take Jesus’ words in this passage seriously if he does not experience that He lives. But whoever has got to know Him as his Savior and as the living Lord, will find refuge in Him, like a child under his father’s coat, without worries and full of trust, only longing to remain a ‘child’.