Seek First the Kingdom of God

Every Wednesday evening, my friend Bill and I facilitate a small Bible study group at the state prison. I put together the lesson based on the last Sunday’s readings using various sources*. When we arrive, our group is announced as, “open Bible study.” Everyone is welcome.
When Bill and I started this Bible study group at the prison, I knew it was something I wanted to do. I felt God calling me to serve Him this way but the first time we went, I was uneasy and apprehensive as the lock on the door was released for us to enter. However, God was with us. All went well.
We’ve been holding bible study at prison since last April. I must share with you that every minute has been wonderful. I wanted to do something good for the men (this is how I refer to the prisoners) but I had no idea what a gift God was giving me. The men who step into our classroom are enthusiastic, friendly, uncomplaining and grateful for this opportunity to share their faith in Christ. They love Jesus and are usually very familiar with the Bible. Sadly, many only come once but the ones who come to Bible study regularly, I call my faithful ones.

I could relate inspiring stories almost weekly but last week one of the men shared something with us that has been on my mind for days. Here’s what happened.
We were studying the readings from the 2nd Sunday of Advent cycle b. We discussed how the 2nd reading, relates to the other readings and to our own situations. I pointed out this verse, “Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day. The Lord does not delay his promises, as some regard delay but is patient with us that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8-9 I reminded them that we don’t have the mind of God. They agreed that it’s impossible to know why God does or does not do what we expect at times. We talked about trusting in God’s will. We all appreciate this truth from the 2nd reading, that God is patient with us and gives us time to come to repentance.

Then I told them that all of us try to match our happenings into our limited way of thinking. One of the men reminded us that God’s ways are not our ways. Bill and I agreed. I told them that we get upset because we didn’t get the job we wanted or because something else didn’t go our way. When someone confides this kind of disappointment to me I answer that it wasn’t part of God’s plan for them. Maybe the job would have harmed them spiritually or possible God has something better planned. I explained that people are comforted by the possible explanation I give them but in truth we should not question God in the first place. We all admitted that as much as we want to trust in God’s will, we often do question our tough times. It’s not easy to follow through on unconditional love and trust in God when we think like humans.

I shared with them that I’m concerned about my son and have been praying for him, but I learned a few days ago that I’m praying the wrong way. I was reading Matthew: “But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.” Matthew 6:33 I told the men that I’ve heard this many times but this time it stood out to me. I wondered, “Do I seek 1st the Kingdom of God?” Have I been praying for my son to seek 1st the Kingdom of God? There was a comment on this scripture that made sense to me. It was something like, if we seek first God’s Kingdom we don’t even have to ask God for what we want because God will give us what is best for us in the long run and we often discover that God gives us even more than we asked for.
One of the new men got very excited and said, “this is what happened to me just a few days ago.” He told us he had been thinking like a human instead of trusting God. Bill and I asked him to please share his story.

He reminded us that he has only been here a little while. I said, “yes, about 2 weeks.” He nodded. He said when he got here they assigned him a cell. He said they gave him the top bunk and a place to put his stuff. He said whenever he moves, he likes to get settled in as quickly as possible, to get his little bit of stuff organized and adapt and adjust right away. But a week after he got here a guard came and told him he was being moved to a different cell. He told us he does not like to move. He asked the guard how they can move him just like that. Any other prison he was assigned to, a request to change cells either from himself or the facility had to be in writing and he had to sign an agreement. The guard told him, “here we can move you whenever we want.” Again he told us that he does not like to be moved. It turned out to be an unsolicited gift from God. He said his new cell is so much better. He was given a bottom bunk which he’s never had in his 7 years in prison. He told us he gets along very well with his new cellmates. He said the guys in his first cell didn’t respect his space. He said his space is important to him. He doesn’t need much but he want’s his stuff and his space left alone. The other cellmates left pornography laying around. He was not happy about that. He said his new cellmates are Christian. The move is agreeable for him.

He added that God gave him a gift that he didn’t ask for. I said God gave you even more because you seek first the kingdom of God. He seemed a little shy, maybe humbled, about that, but I told him it’s true. Look at you. The first day you were here you learned of our Bible study group and sought us out. You accept your circumstances without complaining. You’re respectful of fellow prisoners. He was smiling broadly as I told him this.
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed* we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3

*Seasonal Missalette Worship Resource; Workbook for Lectors, Gospel Readers, and Proclaimers of the Word; http://scborromeo.org/biblestudies.htm http://sundayscripturestudy.com/, https://stpaulcenter.com/ https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/free-daily-gospel-reflections-from-bishop-barron/5315/ notes from Father Adam’s homily