Because this was in your heart and you have not asked for riches… – 2 Chronicles 1:11, Amplified Bible

We often lament the horrid spiritual state of our culture, and rightly so; it is horrid. One of the reasons it is so horrid, however, is that we Christians have done an awful job of being the salt and light of the world that Christ called us to be in Matthew 5:13-16. Salt is a preservative. Light chases away darkness. Together they hold decay at bay. But when we fail to be salt and light, decay runs rampant.

The main reason so many of us Christians have lost our way as salt and light is that we have ignored Christ’s command in Matthew 6:33 to seek God’s kingdom first in our lives. When we fail to seek His kingdom first, we usually do so because of our sinful unbelief. We just don’t believe that God will provide for our needs if we seek His kingdom first, and our unbelief exists despite the fact that He is the all-knowing, always-truthful King of the universe.

When in doubt, it helps to be reminded of stories that demonstrate God’s truth in action, and one such story is detailed in 2 Chronicles 1. The young King Solomon has just taken over the kingdom of Israel from his father, David. God appears to Solomon and asks Solomon what he would like Him to give him. Rather than ask for riches, possessions, or long life, Solomon simply asks for wisdom to be able to rightly govern God’s people. In other words, Solomon desired to seek God’s kingdom first; his own needs and desires were an afterthought. In response to Solomon’s selfless request, God gave Solomon the wisdom he requested and the riches, possessions, and long life that he did not request (2 Chronicles 1:11-12).

Solomon is a prime example of the truth that if we will seek God’s kingdom first, then He will provide for our needs. Does this mean that we are guaranteed riches and influence, like Solomon, if we seek God’s kingdom first? No. But, we are guaranteed that God will provide to us what we need. We also know that the culture around us reflects whether or not Christians are indeed seeking God first in their lives. A righteous culture means that Christians are putting God first, winning souls and making disciples at the expense of all else. A wicked culture means that Christians are putting themselves first, seeking to fulfill their own lusts rather than pursuing God’s work. In the former, the salt and light are doing their job. In the latter, the salt has lost its savor, and the light has been hidden.

You and I can do little to influence our national culture. But if we will be salt and light to the little bit of culture that we touch every day during the course of our lives, then God can use us to start a domino effect of revival unlike any seen in recent memory. The question is, will we bother to push over that first domino?

Will we?