By slowly reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, I've become convinced that it has a central theme. I think it's righteousness, that is, righteousness in the personal-holiness/sanctification sense. That fact has shed a lot more light on Jesus' teaching in these chapters (5-7).
Before I always thought that the section on prayer from 7:7-11 was something of an odd rabbit trail. But how about seeing a connection with the prayer and seeking mentioned in 7:7 with the seeking mentioned in 6:33? It really made a lot more sense to me in this way. Think of it. Jesus has been showing the great need to seek out personal holiness and righteousness, to hunger and thirst for it, to cut off your hand if you have to, to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness," and then he says... "seek and you will find."
This means great encouragement for those seeking to be pleasing to God. You may not be perfectly obedient, and may stumble along at times, but if you are hungering, and thirsting, and crying out to be more like Christ, God will see that your desire is realized. He wants you to seek him, and he says that he will certainly answer prayers like that. He is a good father.
This is a promise to claim.
Wouldn't it be absurd to think that we want to be holier than God (in his secret will) wants us to be? To whatever degree we seek and long for righteousness he is sure to bless. Be encouraged.
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Also, I think in another small way this helps prayer stay in the right perspective. You pray for and seek "his kingdom and his righteousness" and everything takes a back seat. This seems to be the point when it comes to Jesus teaching in the preceding chapter about earthly cares and worries. It's almost as if Jesus is saying "Don't even pray for that, you just seek his kingdom and his righteousness, and I'll take care of that stuff." This might also be why in the Lord's prayer there is only one line mentioning our daily needs (give us today, our "daily" bread).
