But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. MAT 6:33-34.

There is a solemnity in this text that we will never see until we understand what brought about the fall of man. The text is teaching us to seek first the kingdom of heaven. We must understand that in the Garden of Eden, when the Lord created man in the image of God, it was to reflect His perfect image.

The purpose of His creation was for man to reflect God's image of righteousness and true holiness. When God put Adam on probation, it was to see if Adam would truly submit to the authority of the Word of God. Adam had nothing to gain except that he should become as God. Satan's cunning device was to tell man that he should decide what is right and wrong; that is how Satan worked rebellion in the heart of man against the authority of God.

The Lord Jesus points out in our text that we should seek first the kingdom of God, i.e., seek first to be restored under the kingship of God and His righteousness. He is teaching us the first and second tables of the law.

This is teaching the importance of loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and loving our neighbour as ourselves. The Lord Jesus has said, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." MAT 22:40. All of the gospel and all of the law hang upon these two tables of the law.

We must understand that in this life the Lord puts you and me on probation as He did with the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus had to go through His passion first before He received His reward. You and I will have times when we will say that by all human reasoning, in these circumstances, we just cannot obey the Lord.

Notice the example of Abraham. When the Lord told Abraham to offer up his son, Abraham could have reasoned that he could not do that. Abraham could have reasoned thus: In Isaac is the Messiah, and if I put him on the altar, salvation will be gone. Do you see the price Abraham had to pay to obey? He had to believe that God was able to replace whatever was lost.

We may not say that we will lose this or that so we just cannot obey the Lord in this instance. The Lord puts us on trial, and He puts us in those very circumstances to see if we are willing to pay the price. We are on probation the same as the Lord put Adam on probation. In fact, He put His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on probation. Is it not logical that we are also on probation, and we will be tried? Our first and highest priority must be to do the will of God, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness."