TEXT: Matthew 6:25 (CSB): “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
We said yesterday that this year we have had a lot to be troubling. Since March we have been dealing with the Covid-19 virus and major changes in our lives, economics, education systems, and for some – our faith. As we continue in the study on the Sermon on the Mount, this section seems to speak volumes to us. Trusting is the opposite of Worrying. We have discussed Prayer, Fasting, Treasures – and now trusting. Trust is the reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence. It is also in the Greek the idea of a confident expectation of something; what we call HOPE. So today, let us look at this section of Scripture and see Jesus’ Information. We are told not to worry about food or clothes, for life consists of more than these items.
Jesus makes a bold statement in saying do not worry about your life. Some of us are thinking, “ I know Jesus said it, but that’s impossible to do.” Does the fact that Jesus said these things mean that we shouldn’t eat or wear any clothes? Of course not! Jesus is saying that we get so caught up and fret about what we going to wear. And this is what needs to change.
The Greek word translated do not worry literally means “to be drawn in different directions.” Worry pulls us apart. People are pulled apart because we try to live our lives by depending on material wealth. Jesus was saying God has built into His Creation the means by which all things are cared for.
If we decided today “ I’m not going to worry”, many of us equate this with not taking action. For example, if I said I’m not going to worry about what I will eat – what I will wear – my house, my job, it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t fix me and the kids a meal or that I walk out the house naked or I don’t take care of my house or I just decide that’s it, I’m not going to work tomorrow. No! No! No! Do not worry means that you stop fretting over your life – stop letting all the things in life consume and take over our minds. The Psalmist in the Old Testament said – “Fret not yourself…” three times in Psalm 37 alone.
Is fretting trusting? Is fretting part of God’s plan for me?
Jesus gives us information in this verse, then He goes on to illustrate this truth in the following verses.
Join me tomorrow to see the Illustration of this truth by the Master Teacher – Jesus.
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