•ff It is as if a company of sculptors should spend all their time and effort providing pedestals, — some able to get only rough boulders from the wayside, others polishing and finishing fine shafts of purest marble, — but nobody thinking of carving a statue to set thereon. Or as if a company of painters busied themselves exclusively with finding and stretching their canvases, some getting only coarse sacking, others silks of the finest web, — but nobody ever painted a picture. Now Jesus is saying here, " Don't bother so much about the pedestals and the canvases. They are absolutely insignificant beside the statues and the pictures. These are the paramount concern." The roughest boulder that carries a noble statue is better than the finest shaft of polished marble that carries nothing. The coarsest sacking upon which some rude but great etching has been sketched is better than the most delicate silk which is absolutely blank. So the meagrest living upon which a life of human service and spiritual significance is built is infinitely better than the most luxurious existence which but cumbers the ground with its purposeless and useless occupancy of space and time.1
4. Jesus is asking men to do what He did Himself. He knew the numberless spiritual perils of poverty. He suffered hunger, and had power to make the stones of the wilderness bread. But to use His power in that way would have shown that He put self before God, and the satisfying of hunger before the interests
1 C. D. Williams, A Valid Cliristianity for To- Day, 281.
i7o THE FIRST THINGS FIRST
of His Kingdom. He saw that " life is more than meat," that " man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that pro- ceedeth out of the mouth of God." He set the Kingdom first, and the angels ministered unto Him. Because He was tempted thus He is able to succour those who are tempted by the same pressure of need. It is in divinest pity that He says to the poor, " Seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness ; and all these things shall be added unto you." He knew the tragedies of the souls of men, knew how the soul could be lost in the strong and urgent pressure of the demands of the body. Therefore He spoke so convincingly and so persuasively of the Heavenly Father's care, and gave the great assurance of His loving watchfulness. To Him man is dearer than to himself. He bids men trust God to provide what they need for the body, and give their anxiety and strength to the doing of His will. God will not deny Himself. Faithfulness on our part will be answered by faithfulness on His. His name has ever been " Jehovah-jireh " : " The Lord will provide." If men seek first the Kingdom of God, He will not fail to add " all these things."
% Trust in God, an unshaken confidence in God, which is never dismayed at the changes or surprises of life — he who has this faith will not be distracted by anxious care concerning the things of this life. He will make God the supreme object of his choice and service, will seek first His Kingdom and righteousness, confident that the Father, who knows all his needs, will confer the minor benefits. This confidence that God will approve and bless us in all our life if we seek Jirst His Kingdom and righteous- ness, and seek all other things second, is the faith which " removes mountains " (Mark xi. 23) ; it is adequate to the greatest difficulties and perplexities of life. It steadies, strengthens, and unifies all our efforts, preventing us from wasting our energies by dividing life between two inconsistent objects, and from wearing our hearts out by corroding cares, needless anxieties, and unbelieving fears. There can be no doubt that Jesus would include this concentra- tion of life upon spiritual good and the trustful spirit which it inspires, in that love to God which comprises all forms of service which we can render to Him.1
1 G. B. Stevens, Theology of the New Testament, 110.
ST. MATTHEW vi. 33 171
III.
All these Things.
1. The possession of the Kingdom carries with it every need- ful thing. All values are included in the Divine. Within the Kingdom is absolute beauty, " the altogether lovely," and if you seek for that the beautiful must come to you. Within the Kingdom is absolute truth, and if you seek for that the true will come to you in the process. And if you do with all your might whatsoever your hands find to do, and do it for the highest end, those necessaries of life which money can buy will also come to you. Good workers who live for the Kingdom never lack bread. It is true that often the very best of them get nothing but bread, or " bread and salt," whilst those who care nothing for the Kingdom get bread and many things besides. But as Lewis Morris puts it, "Strong souls need little more than bread and truth and beauty."
Strong souls within the present live; The future veiled, — the past forgot; Grasping what is, with thews of steel, They bend what shall be, to their will; And blind alike to doubt and dread, The End, for which they are, fulfil.