October 21, 2024
For several years, the YouVersion Bible app has released its most often booked-marked, highlighted, and shared verse from the previous year. In 2021, this nation’s most popular verse was “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).
In several Latin American countries, Isaiah 41:10 was the favorite: “So do not fear, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Jeremiah 29:11, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future’” led searches and shares in Singapore and the Netherlands.
YouVersion founder Bobby Gruenewald said his team is encouraged to see high levels of Bible engagement after a record-breaking 2020. In 2021, the YouVersion community read 55.8 billion chapters of the Bible; played 8.2 billion audio chapters; created 2.4 billion Highlights, Bookmarks, and Notes; and completed 1.4 billion Bible plan days. (ttps://www.youversion.com/press/youversion-reveals-2021-verse-of-the-year-and-bible-app-trends/).
“It means people are turning to God and the Bible for answers to their questions,” he said.
Applying Matthew 6:33 to our lives sets a great direction for 2022. This verse is found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in which He teaches how to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God. Since our real home is in heaven, our lives should reflect that reality as we pursue God. After teaching about the futility of worry, Jesus commands us to seek topmost God’s kingdom and righteousness.
“Seek” is not a suggestion, but a present tense command, meaning we must continuously seek God. We should desire to know Him more and more this year. As we get to know Him, then we’ll get to know His will and ways.
This command is only one example in which God reveals His will for our lives. Every time we see a command in scripture, that command is God’s will. He knows what’s best for our lives. When we live within His stated will, then we’ll find the most success and fulfillment.
When we align our lives to God’s revealed will, then we can trust God to reveal His hidden will as we follow Him day by day.
In The Will of God as a Way of Life, Jerry Sittser expresses the comfort we find in seeking to obey God’s revealed will:
“If we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness, which is the will of God for our lives, then whatever choices we make concerning the future become the will of God for our lives. There are many pathways we could follow, many options we could pursue. As long as we are seeking God, all of them can be God’s will for our lives, although only one – the path we choose – actually becomes his will.”
As we face multiple decisions throughout this year, our number one decision every day will be “Whom and what will I pursue today? Will I chase after God or after the world?”
Jesus sets the pace for the serious believer, using two objects to emphasize a simultaneous pursuit. Seek foremost the kingdom and His righteousness. Make seeking God the chief, preeminent aim of your life and place His rule and His reign first in your life.
For 2,000 years, astronomers thought the sun orbited around the earth and the earth was the center of the entire universe. The greatest minds of the day, like Aristotle and Ptolemy, promoted that theory. Then in the 16th century, Nicolai Copernicus came along with a new theory that the sun was the center of the universe and the earth and other planets orbited around the sun. He was ostracized by the scientific community for his thinking, but ultimately, he was right.
The sun is at the center and everything else, including our world, obits around the sun. We make a humongous mistake when we think our world revolves around us. Seeking His righteousness means making God the center of one’s life.
Who is at the center of your universe? What is your chief pursuit this year?
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David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church, Fayetteville, Georgia. The church family invites you to join them this week for worship at 10 a.m. and Bible study at 11:10. Visit www.mcdonoughroad.org for online viewing options. Visit www.davidchancey.com for more of Chancey’s writings.
