{"id":3306,"date":"2018-06-26T14:01:54","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T14:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3306"},"modified":"2024-04-25T16:50:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T16:50:22","slug":"mans-ultimate-quest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3306","title":{"rendered":"Man&#8217;s Ultimate Quest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note: <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our <b>Brief Articles 1<\/b> page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">All men are seeking something; this is what keeps us going. Various ones seek fame, riches, pleasure, peace, power, and other things. There is only one quest that towers over all others in importance and that should govern all other pursuits. Jesus Christ set it forth in the Sermon on the Mount: \u201cBut seek ye first his [God\u2019s] kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you\u201d (Mat. 6:33).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Note the facets of this challenging statement:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>The Obligation\u2014Seek: <\/strong>God\u2019s kingdom is His church, built and purchased by the blood of His Son (Mat. 16:18\u201319; Acts 20:28). In the modern religious Babel one must search diligently to find it. Jesus likely means, however, that we are to give it our full attention, pursuing its welfare and advancement. Our lives are to be centered in it. God\u2019s purposes are wrapped up in His church, which is the \u201cfulness\u201d of Christ (Eph. 1:23). One cannot fully serve God outside of and apart from His church; those in it must give it their best.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>The Order\u2014First: <\/strong>The Lord\u2019s kingdom must take priority over everything and everyone else. If we place anything before or above it, we are idolaters. Even earning our daily food and clothing are to be secondary\u2014mere means to a greater end. Our families are very important (Eph. 5:23\u201331; 6:1\u20134), but not more than Jesus\u2019 claims. We are even to be willing to die rather than deny Him (Rev. 2:10). How much less then should convenience, recreation, or pleasure take precedence over God\u2019s will and our service to Him? <em>First <\/em>means first!<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>The Object\u2014God\u2019s Kingdom and Righteousness: <\/strong>God\u2019s eternal plan for man\u2019s redemption involves the church, His kingdom (Eph. 3:10\u201311). It has existed since the first Pentecost after Jesus\u2019 resurrection and ascension and can be identified by its distinctive traits, described in the New Testament. Finding it, Truth-lovers will \u201cbuy\u201d it as the \u201cpearl of great price,\u201d regardless of cost (Mat. 13:45\u201346). Men who love it will not think of polluting it with their own doctrines and practices. God\u2019s \u201crighteousness\u201d is His will for making men righteous as revealed in His Word (Psa. 119:172; 2 Pet. 2:21). We dare not seek first our own wills or the will of others. He says that everything\u2014<strong>everything\u2014<\/strong>must be secondary to our pursuit of His will.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>The Offer\u2014Promise of Provisions: <\/strong><em>These things <\/em>refers to life\u2019s necessities (Mat. 6:32). This is no encouragement to laziness or foolish unconcern, but to trust the benevolent hand of our Creator and Sustainer. Besides the spiritual blessings of serving God, He will throw in our physical necessities \u201cto boot.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Jesus put us first in dying for us. Where have you put Him? God and His Son deserve to be on the heart-throne of every human being.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it appeared in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, June 4, 2010.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>Attribution: <\/strong>From <em>TheScripturecache.com<\/em>, owned and administered by Dub McClish.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0[Note: This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 1 page.] All men are seeking something; this is what keeps us going. Various ones seek fame, riches, pleasure, peace, power, and other things. There is only one quest that towers over&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3306\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  Man&#8217;s Ultimate Quest<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,120,19,84,81,65,96,141,86,78,144,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christ-authority","category-establishment-of","category-church","category-the","category-covetousness","category-dedication","category-idolatry","category-kingdom","category-pridehumility","category-sanctification","category-selfishness","category-worldliness","wpcat-68-id","wpcat-120-id","wpcat-19-id","wpcat-84-id","wpcat-81-id","wpcat-65-id","wpcat-96-id","wpcat-141-id","wpcat-86-id","wpcat-78-id","wpcat-144-id","wpcat-156-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3306"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23636,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3306\/revisions\/23636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}