“…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes…But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:25, 33)
The Fall was about broken relationship. The act of disobeying was symptomatic—the affect of the causation: a split second choice of the heart. And this choice also created iniquity in the same split second.
The Hebrew word for iniquity is עון (avon). It has also been translated in English as guilt, punishment for iniquity. It’s first use in Gen 4:13 provides the context and precedent for broken relationship:
“And said Cain to YHVH, ‘greater is my punishment than I can bear’.”
The choice of Cain to kill his brother, ultimately broke relationship with YHVH, and it created iniquity within him that resulted being exiled. The punishment wasn’t being driven from garden—from good and plenty. It was being driven away from community and family. From relationship.
When Cain broke relationship, he lost the resources he received from family, from the ground, and ultimately from Yahweh.
At some moment in his heart he decided that having some “thing” other than right relationship with his brother, and with YHVH, was more important. Whatever that “something” might have been, whether physical or emotional, we can assume that it was a “resource” he felt that he lacked and therefore desired to acquire. Even if meant killing his brother.
And thus, the choice in his heart in the moment created iniquity that resulted in a judgement that produce the trouble of a lifetime. Cain’s trouble was the result of broken relationship.
There is a similar word in Hebrew that sometimes translates to iniquity, אונ (aven). It has also been translated as sorrow, wickedness, and trouble.
In Matthew 6, we see Yeshua addressing this core issue with His disciples. He deals with the troubling nature of accumulating resources. And he concludes His thoughts with the exhortation to not be like the Gentiles who chase after these things. Rather, seek after the Kingdom and Yahweh’s righteousness.
The Greek word used for righteousness here is dikaiosýnē which translates to judicial approval, which can also imply divine approval. And this approval is based upon relationship, not upon capability or acquisition—what you can do or get. It can only be found in relationship with Yeshua, who then becomes ours righteousness. (1 Cor 1:30)
Yeshua was encouraging his disciples to shift away from a resource centric life, in a constant state of perpetual lack. Instead, to be relationship-centric with the Father and His Kingdom, and experience a life where “all these things will be added to you.” A better way of translating it is: all resources will move towards us with the purpose of increasing us.
By seeking a relational connection with our Father and Kingdom—really His Family and Realms, we created a gravity well around us that pulls in every resource and capacity that we will ever need and want!
Gate Of Transfiguration
When Cain broke relationship with Yahweh, he changed his relationship-centric life into a resource-centric one that resulted in broken relationship with everyone and everything. Including his resources. He moved out of a relationally-based perpetual supply into a resource-focused life of lack.
In the final statement of Matthew 6, Yeshua captures the nature of a resource-focused life. He exhorts His disciples not to worry—to be drawn in different directions—over tomorrow. Tomorrow will be pulled in different directions itself. Rather, it’s enough to deal with today’s trouble.
The Greek word used here for trouble is κακια (kakia). It can also mean, wickedness, evil in the sense of labor, misfortune. Properly: the underlying principle of evil (inherent). The root source for evil is broken relationship. We saw that first in the Garden with Adam and Eve, and then reinforced not long after, with Cain’s choice.
Yeshua is saying that the day is already filled up with the effects of our broken relationship with Yahweh. Don’t bother yourself with worrying about tomorrow’s troubles. Focus on dealing with the trouble currently in front of you.
If the trouble of the day (labor and toil for the gathering of things) is the result of a broken relationship with Yahweh, then making the “seeking” the Kingdom your chief effort, means working to restore a right relationship with Him, so that the adding of “all” things to ourselves might be restored to us today.
The beauty of resolving the trouble of today, means that tomorrow’s trouble is also dealt with, as well. For a restored relationship with Father and His Kingdom, mean a return to the Garden, and the restoration of all relationships and the resources that flow out of them.
