Time to read:10 minutes
With all that has transpired over the past week in our nation as well as many others, I find that it is so easy to become distracted with the cares of this world. It is so easy to gravitate to the latest news headline or the latest…..(fill in your social media platform of choice)…post. From there it seems to be an inevitable exit lane from a biblical world view to one of worry, anxiety, stress, and uneasiness. Why is this? First the things that we see being done TO US, such as federal mandates, the tongue lashings coming from the person occupying the oval office, and the fight to be able to murder unborn babies, should get our attention and concern us. We as Christians are called to be aware and discern the sin that surrounds us.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:2
HOWEVER….as the Apostle Paul tells us in the passage above, we should not be conformed to this world. The English word “conformed” is translated from the Greek word “syschematizo” which means to shape ones behavior. So, Paul’s instruction is that we are not to behave like we are citizens of this world but instead to behave in a manner that shows that we are different. And that this difference is because we have an eternal promise that we derive from the saving blood of Jesus Christ, which means our home is in Heaven. We can rest in this fact because after His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples that he was going to ascend to Heaven and create a place for them and that he would return and carry them home.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” – John 14:2-4 (ESV)
It is very probable that all who are reading this, have heard these verses before and may very well acknowledge that you believe it. So, if you believe these things why be anxious? First, may I suggest that it is important that we evaluate why we believe what we think we believe and evaluate these findings through Scripture. (Follow this link to review my previous post and consider these very critical questions). If you’re anything like me I would bet that you, and the rest of humankind, feel anxious primarily because of the following reasons.
The future (personal and/or global)
Your health (illness, disease, death)
Your finances (income, debt, retirement)
Relationships (friends, family, romantic)
I will be the first to admit that I struggle with the same anxieties, and I don’t think anyone would argue that it is a noble cause desire to be able to provide for your family, to want to be healthy, and to care for and about those in your life. From a human worldly perspective these are very valid concerns. Guess what, because Jesus was fully God and fully man, He knew that anxiety would be something that we as a fallen race would struggle with. In fact, he taught on this very subject and placed significant emphasis on it.
In Matthew Chapter 5 we are introduced to an important event in Jesus’s ministry. It is known as the Sermon on the Mount and contains some of the most significant, applicable, and convicting teaching every recorded in scripture. To set the stage, we read in the final verses of Chapter 4 that great crowds were following Jesus because He had been healing those that were ill and possessed by demons. Then in Chapter 5 verse 1 it is recorded that when He saw the great crowd, He went up on a mountain, sat down, and began to teach them.
Matthew 6:25 is the beginning of Jesus’s teaching on the subject of anxiety. It is important to note that this comes on the heels of Jesus teaching that instead of focusing on amassing great wealth in this life, we need to focus on eternity and lay up treasures in heaven; that whatever our treasure is, there will be the place where our heart is found. With that in mind, lets take a look at the first “therefore”.
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? – Matthew 6:26-30 (ESV)
There is a lot of wisdom presented in this passage and I won’t attempt to unpack everything. However, there are a couple of points that I want to cover. First, Jesus teaches that life is more than our temporal bodily needs. Remember, just prior to this he was pointing the crowd to heavenly eternal things. He expounds on this by directing them to notice the birds that were probably present on that very day and reminding them that birds don’t plant food and store up food for the winter. God provides for them day in and day out. There is an important distinction here that I want to be clear on. Jesus is in no way implying that we can sit back and not work or go to the grocery store and simply wait for food to appear in front of us. Think about birds, they are constantly moving and searching for food and at least in Ohio, the birds are not building little barns and silos to keep all of their seeds and bugs stored for the future.
The next important point that Jesus makes is in verse 27 and it is so applicable for where we find ourselves in September 2021. The absolute truth is that being anxious about whether you, or a loved one, will contract COVID will not add a single moment to your life. Imagine if the world started living this way!! Imagine if everyone turned from the idolatry and false religion of the pandemic and turned to the Almighty God. If we truly have faith and we trust in God for what He has done through Christ by securing our salvation and our eternal home with Him in glory, then why would we not trust Him in this life? If you have trouble answering this question or do not currently have this trust, then please stop here, do not bother reading the rest of this article. Submit your life to the Christ, repent of your sin, trust that he died in your place and received your punishment, and you will be saved.
The next question that we are left with in verse 30 is very convicting but easily overlooked. Jesus equates all these cares and worries with having “little faith”. All the needs of our earthly existence are just that, they are very real! We need food, we need shelter, and we need clothing. Let’s not forget what God did for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Following the fall, which resulted from their sinful and disobedient turning from God’s command to not eat of the Tree of Good and Evil, and after He cursed man and the serpent, and more importantly after He presents the Gospel message that Eve’s offspring will crush the head of the serpent (this refers to Jesus’s work on the Cross); we read that God made Adam and Eve clothes because they were ashamed of their nakedness. It’s incredible that the Creator of all things stops to make them clothes, even after they sinned and were responsible for the fall of mankind! With this in mind we can easily join Jesus in saying, “If God clothes the plants of the field, and He clothed Adam and Eve, will he not provide for us, O we of little faith?”.
While this presents plenty of food for thought, Jesus doesn’t stop there. Being the perfect professor that He is, He uses the teaching technique of repetition to continue to drive the point deeper into our hearts.
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. -Matthew 6:31-33 (ESV)
As He continues His discourse, he stays on the same topic but diverts our thoughts to eternity. However, while He is doing this work on our hearts, he still acknowledges our feelings by stating the fact that our Heavenly Father knows what we need, but He then puts things in their proper order.
Seek the kingdom of God which is of eternal importance
All of the temporal things WILL be ADDED to us
Don’t miss the word “ALL”! Not some, but all!!
They will be added.
WILL = not might or possibly
ADDED = it is outside of our doing because God is the great mathematician
As Jesus rounds out this trifecta of “therefores”, He finally addresses our concern about the future.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. - Matthew 6:34 (ESV)
Because God knows that we have real earthly needs, because our lives are more than food and clothing, and because we have an eternal residence, He commands us to not be worried about the tomorrow. Why? Well other than what we have already covered, Jesus is making it clear that all we are able to focus on is the present. We are not meant to mentally dwell on all the things that may or may not happen tomorrow, next month, or next year. In fact, we have no guarantees that there will even be a tomorrow.
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” - James 4:13-15 (ESV)
The guarantee that we do have however, is that God loves us, He is always with us, and he grants us new mercies every day.
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.- Lamentations 3:22-33 (ESV)
So, let’s take a step back and consider, if you’re a Christian, what the source of our strength really is. Consider the tapestry of scripture and in your mind pull together the truths outlined above. Then humbly go before God and repent of your sinful worry and anxiety. Pray that he will give you the strength to trust in His power and that he will bless you with confidence in the fact that He knows what you need, that He will provide all that is promised in Scripture, and that His provision and mercies are new every day.
In Christ