Daily Devotionals

Believe It Or Not Week 5: Friday

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

I am from Georgia, and as you can imagine, 2021 was a great year in sports. The Atlanta Braves won the World Series, and the Georgia Bulldogs won the National Championship. I loved watching both teams throughout their seasons, but it was particularly fun watching the Braves step up and win the World Series. The final game of the world series was particularly exciting. Of course, I wore a Braves baseball cap and shirt while I watched. I’m sorry to any Astros fan, but I was not wearing any Astros gear. You probably would not have expected to know how I feel about the Braves. After all, I would not be a fully committed Braves fan if part of me was also cheering for the Astros. The truth is, one cannot be an effective fan or follower with divided loyalties. This is also true in our relationship with Christ. You see, Jesus made it clear that there was no room for divided loyalties because He is looking for fully committed followers.

Jesus called His followers to be fully committed in Matthew 6. As He was teaching one day, He said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need” (verse 33). This was a clear call to fully commit to Christ without dividing our loyalty between Him and anything else. This is why Jesus did not just call followers to seek God and His kingdom, but He called them to seek God and His kingdom above anything. This clearly means that nothing in the world is to compete for our loyalty to Him. The incredible promise this verse tells us is that when we seek God and His kingdom above all else, “He will give [us] everything we need” (verse 33). In other words, God takes care of us when we are fully devoted to following Him.

 What Jesus spoke about in Matthew 5 is true for you and me today, too. There is no room for divided loyalties if we will be fully devoted followers of Christ. Is anything holding you back from being a fully devoted follower of Christ today?

Moving Toward Action

One of the ways that we can fully devote ourselves to Christ is to serve. If you are currently serving with us at Sagebrush, take some time to reflect on how God has encouraged you as you have served. If you are not currently, go to sagebrush.church/serve and prayerfully look through all of our opportunities to serve and sign up to serve.

Going Deeper

Matthew 6:25-34 (NLT)

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.