Do Not Worry About Your Life

Do Not Worry About Your Life!

Matt 6:25-27  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"

Matt 6:32b-34  "For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

I wish my brain could function more like that of a bird.  I simply cannot imagine a bird wondering if the color and pattern of that other girl-bird's feathers are prettier than hers.  Nor if that other bird-couple's nest is bigger or fancier than hers.  Nor if those other birds got more to eat, or a tastier kind of seed than she got.  Do you hear the ludicrousness of that?  But that's how our minds are operating far too often!  

I also cannot imagine a bird worrying about where it will find some berries or some seeds to eat;  it simply flies until it finds them, and then eats.  It gathers whatever it needs to build a nest.  When its feathers fall out, new ones come in, without any effort or thought on the bird's part at all.  The bird occupies itself with what is before it in the moment.

We, blessed with a brain that has a much bigger capacity for thought, drive ourselves CRAZY with over-thinking, planning, comparing and then worrying that we forgot to account for something!  While I was writing today's companion post for kids, I found it a bit tricky, because kids don't naturally worry!  They learn to worry from the adults around them.  Kids trust that what they need will be there. . . or more accurately, they simply live in the moment.  They see what is in front of them, and they occupy themselves with that.  

Remember how earlier we talked about Jesus telling us to have faith as a little child does?  We can learn a lot from their simple, trusting approach to life.  We also will serve them and ourselves well by taking care NOT to teach them to worry!   This is trickier, because we don't come out and say that they should worry . . . they see us worrying, and they conclude that if we're worried, they should be too.  Jesus says simply "Don't worry about tomorrow."  As we read yesterday, He wants us to hear Him and then do what He says.

Now let's not go to extremes:  we must compare scripture with scripture.  We are told in Hebrews that "if a man doesn't work, he doesn't eat."  Jesus is not telling us to sit back and wait for God to hand-feed us, or for Him to print money in a backroom to slip to us.  Many principles are recorded in scripture that tell us God expects us to work, to plan, to save and to provide for our needs and that of our families.  If we are obeying Him, we are to be confident that He will meet our needs through those efforts, as well as by any other means He chooses.  It is an issue of having trust in Him as we live obedient to His instructions.

"Your heavenly Father knows what you need" also brings up the difference between needs and wants.  He also knows what we want - He promises to provide what we need.  Paul tells us we are to be content with God's provision.  Plenty to reflect on there as we're in the season where businesses spend the largest amount of their advertising budget to convince us we need more . . . 

I want to close with Matt 10:28-31  "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.  Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?  And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."  

Are you impressed with the way Jesus moves from the fact that God is "able to destroy both soul and body in hell" to "the very hairs of your head are all numbered" ?  We tend to gravitate toward certain verses, to enjoy the pleasant, loving, reassuring things that Jesus says; but He always reveals God fully.  God is indeed the Righteous Judge as well as the Benevolent Caregiver.  The same God who will one day send those who have chosen not to come to Him out of His presence for eternity also numbers the very hairs on your head.  He is intimately involved with each of us, and not willing that any should perish.  But we must choose to come to Him and to follow Him.  We are to have a healthy fear of God - a reverent awe for Who He Is.  That reverence leads us to repentance; from there He leads us to life.  And life is found in following and obeying Him.

So today, obey this:  Do Not Worry!  If you catch a worrisome thought going through your mind, ask Him to take it captive, and replace it with confidence in His ability, willingness and promise to provide for you. 

(the link to the kid's post is:  http://elizabethtreger1.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-countdown-dec-14.html)