So don’t worry about tomorrow…
Matthew 6:25-34
The Message
25-26 “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion.
There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.
Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
27-29 “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch?
All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference?
Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers.
They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it?
The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?
What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving.
People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.
Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.
Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.
God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
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Seek Your Reward from God, Not from People
John chapter 6 starts out by instructing us, as Jesus’ followers, to live for God’s approval, and not the praise of man.
Jesus continued to indict the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy and lack of true righteousness, while instructing His followers in the way of righteousness
(v. 20). The Pharisees had missed the point about how a person becomes righteous.
They thought it was by works of law-keeping. Because the Pharisees had sought to establish their own righteousness, their self-righteousness could only produce hypocrisy.
They were masquerading as something they were not.
Jesus made it clear in 6:33 when He insisted that we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness from which all of life’s resources flow.
Hypocrisy is, of course, true of all of us from time to time, but Jesus was encouraging genuineness and true spirituality as opposed to hypocritical self-righteousness.
God despises appearance that is not reality (e.g., Ananias and Sapphira; Acts 5:1-10).
Don’t Worry
(v. 25) In this passage Jesus strikes at the tendency to center our lives around food and clothing, thus missing life’s real meaning.
The problem is not so much what we eat and wear today, but what we shall eat and wear ten, twenty, or thirty years from now.
Such worry about the future is sin because it denies the love, wisdom, and power of God.
It denies the love of God by implying that He doesn’t care for us.
It denies His wisdom by implying that He doesn’t know what He is doing.
And it denies His power by implying that He isn’t able to provide for our needs.
This type of worry causes us to devote our finest energies to making sure we will have enough to live on.
Then before we know it, our lives have passed, and we have missed the central purpose for which we were made.
God did not create us in His image with no higher destiny than that we should consume food.
We are here to love, worship, and serve Him and to represent His interests on earth.
Our bodies are intended to be our servants, not our masters.
Because of the ill effects of worry, Jesus tells us not to worry about the needs that God promises to supply.
Worry may:
(1) Damage your health,
(2) Disrupt your productivity,
(3) Negatively affect the way you treat others,
(4) Rob your day of joy, and
(5) Reduce your ability to trust in God.
How many ill effects of worry are you experiencing?
Here is the difference between worry and genuine concern: Worry immobilizes you, but concern moves you to action.
SEVEN REASONS NOT TO WORRY
The same God who created life in you can be trusted with the details of your life.
6:26 Worrying about the future can make us so focused on work that we fail to attend to what is most important.
6:27 Worrying is more harmful than helpful.
6:28-30 God does not ignore those who depend on Him.
6:31-32 Worrying shows a lack of faith in and understanding of God.
6:33 Worrying keeps us from what God wants us to pursue.
6:34 Living one day at a time keeps us from being consumed with worry.
To “seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously” means to put God first in your life, to fill your thoughts with His desires, to use His character as your life’s pattern, and to keep on implementing His Kingdom values on earth.
What is really important to you?
People, objects, goals, and other desires all compete for priority.
Any of these can quickly become most important to you if you don’t actively choose to give God first place in every area of your life.
In Jesus’ Kingdom, worrying about daily needs leaves us empty.
But maintaining a good relationship with Him and loving others give us all these benefits as by-products.
Time devoted to planning for tomorrow is time well spent; time devoted to worrying about tomorrow is time wasted.
Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference.
Careful planning is thinking ahead about goals, steps, and schedules, and trusting in God’s guidance.
When done well, planning helps alleviate worry.
Worrying, by contrast, consumes us with anxiety and makes it difficult for us to trust God.
Worriers let their obsession with plans and outcomes interfere with their relationship with God.
Don’t let worries about tomorrow affect your relationship with God today.
Selah (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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Tuesday, June 21
God At Eventide
by Two Listeners
YOURS
Appeal to Me often. Do not implore so much as claim My Help as your right.
It is yours in Friendship’s name. Claim it with a mighty, impelling insistence. It is yours.
Not so much Mine to give you, as yours; but yours because it is included in the Great Gift of Myself that I gave you.
An All-embracing Gift, a Wonder Gift. Claim, accept, use it. All is well.
Now unto Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
(Jude 1:24-25)
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