That's it in a Nutshell

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.  Matthew 6: 33-34

You have greater and better things to take thought about, the life of your soul, your eternal happiness; that is the one thing needful about which you should employ your thoughts and which is commonly neglected in those hearts wherein worldly cares have the ascendant.

The great duty required:  it is the sum and substance of our whole duty:  "Seek first the kingdom of God; mind religion as your great and principal concern."  Our duty is to seek; to desire, pursue, and aim at these things, it is a word that has in it much of the constitution of the new covenant in favour of us; though we have not attained, but in many things fail and come short, sincere seeking (a careful concern and an earnest endeavour) is accepted.

We must mind heaven as our end, and holiness as our way.  Seek the comforts of the kingdom of grace and glory as your felicity (happiness), aim at the kingdom of heaven; press towards it; give diligence to make it sure; resolve not to take up short of it; seek for this glory honour, and immortality, prefer heaven and heavenly blessings far before earth and earth delights.

Seek ye first--let your care for your souls and another world take place of all other cares; and let all the concerns of this life be made subordinate to those of the life to come; we must seek the things of Christ more than our own things, and if ever they come in competition, we must remember to which we are to give preference.  Seek these things first, first in thy days, let the morning of youth be dedicated to God. Wisdom must be sought early.  Seek this first everyday, let waking thoughts be of God.  Let this be our principle, to do that first which is most needful and let Him that is the First, have the first.

The conclusion of this whole matter then is, that it is the will and command of the Lord Jesus, that His disciples should not be their own tormentors, nor make their passage through this world more dark and unpleasant, by their apprehension of troubles, than God has made it by the troubles themselves.  By our daily prayers we may procure strength to bear us up under our daily troubles and to arm us against the temptations that attend them, and then let none of these things move us. (Matthew Henry)

I knew it--I had a hunch that I was bringing more on myself than necessary.  Making things a bigger deal than they need to be.  Our pastor said something yesterday that struck me--"It's really that simple, He never said it would be easy, but it's really that simple."  So this is it in a nutshell--seek Christ consistently with a sincere heart, let your focus be upward, and arm yourselves daily--second by second in prayer to allow God's strength to work through you.

Speaking of nuts (yes-the last sentence had the word nut) the meat is inside the shell.  First you have to spend time and crack it open to receive the nourishment that is within.  You can carry around God's word all you want; but if you never actually spend time "cracking" it open--you will not receive God's nourishment inside.  It's not the outside that counts--it's the treasure within.

So get busy cracking open God's Word, you'll never know what you will find.