when I confuse kingdoms

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Matthew 6:25

Anxiety is often a sign that I am spiritually focused on an earthly thing. It is too easy to get anxious over the stuff of this life. Jesus uses two very common examples, food and clothes, to remind us to NOT get confused about which kingdom we are living in. His principle is this: We are created for a life that consists of more than this world. Getting anxious over what goes on with earthly concerns just gives us a narrow, selfish perspective. We need instead to back off and see God’s eternal viewpoint.

Personally, I see the principle Jesus is teaching applying to a lot of issues right now. And they are a struggle for me. Although temporal concerns are important to Christians, they are not to take the highest priority for us. Jesus’ kingdom leads and informs everything else. God will provide for us (Matthew 6:25-29). Jesus illustrates with birds and flowers to show how nothing in creation is beyond God’s care (Matthew 6:30-32). God has a solid history of providing for His people that I can trust (Matthew 6:33-34).

Let’s think about this in the light of current cultural challenges. I’m seeing Christians argue over issues of virtually zero eternal, soul-changing impact. It would seem if the kingdom of God is our passion, we’d realize things we are currently dividing over are ALL bound to fade away to nothingness in the reality of Christ’s eternal rule. Yep, Jesus is bigger than our opinions about masks, vaccinations, and political solutions. 

We are in trouble (and I have been guilty here the last 18 months), when social issues get more attention than the gospel in our hearts. That’s a confusion of kingdoms. If judgmentalism or dislike for others settles in on an earthly matters, we have gotten anxious rather than trusted the God Who overrules it all. It we let an earthly issue impede gospel community and proclamation of Jesus, we have our eyes set too low. When our hope in in a human solution we have left faith in God aside for a kind of idolatry. When we are OK with damaged relationships in the church over trivial earthly issues, we are sinfully confused. When it is hard to love our neighbors and show them Jesus, we are totally focused on the wrong kingdom. Oh that my heart would always seek first His kingdom, trusting Him to settle my soul because my life is more than this world!