Don’t Worry
Yesterday I wrote out graduation cards for two young adults moving from high school to college. Knowing the leap involved in such a drastic transition, I gave the best advice I could:
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” - Matt 6:33
After writing that verse out, however, I realized it was a little silly to just pluck that verse out of a whole passage without context.
What happened before the “But”? What are “these things”?
There is a time and place to read verses individually and without context. After taking a moment to think however, I don’t think this can be one of those verses.
The sixth chapter of Matthew ends with verse 34:
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”
That one could almost be read as a stand alone, too, and often is. However, the word “therefore” means that this final verse in the chapter is hinging on what came before it.
You can not understand why you shouldn’t worry without the rest of the chapter nor can you understand why you should seek the kingdom and what things will be given to you without it.
So lets go back!
Chapter 6 is part of what is known as the “sermon on the mount”, a recorded version of a sermon that Jesus gave.
The first part talks about giving, praying, and fasting, all crucial components to a life following Jesus and deserving of their own teachings.
Skipping down to verse 19, this section talks about storing up treasures in heaven instead of treasures on earth. Everything we will ever own or possess in this word will eventually be destroyed. EVERYTHING, including our bodies are temporary.
Verses 22 and 23 talk about what you choose to let into your body. The eyes let things into the body and if they are not letting in good things then your whole body will be unhealthy.
Verse 24 says:
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Back in the Torah we are taught that the Hebrew god is a jealous god and so fiercely loves us and desires relationship with us that he requires our full attention. Yaweh cannot be your god if money is your god. You cannot serve both.
We then jump to the next verse, the beginning of the section on worry.
Finally, 436 words into this post and we actually are going to talk about worry.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes?”
Another “therefore”, so we must stop and see what it is “there for”.
Jesus tells us we are not to worry about where our basic needs come from. Why? Well lets look at the previous 24 verses.
So far we know that it is our duty as followers of Jesus to:
Give to the poor.
Pray and communicate with our Father.
Fast, in order to know our Father more.
Not worry about our earthly possessions, instead be concerned with the life you lead and what you are doing for the Kingdom.
Our eyes influence the health of the whole body, so we must be careful what is let into them.
We CANNOT make money our god, our allow it to become our master.
Because of those things, we have no reason to worry about our food or clothing or shelter. The LORD provides.
Verse 26:
“Look at the birds of the air; they do no sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
followed with verse 27:
“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
If you are here as part of the Overcoming Fear journal, then you will get to walk through those verses with me in detail in the very next section. If you are just stumbling upon this blog entry randomly and want to read the post on those verses, click here.
Going on to verse 28, 29 and 30:
“And why do you worry about clothes? see how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown in the fire, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith?”
Solomon, one of the wisest and wealthiest men in the world was never as extravagantly dressed as the flowers of the field that the LORD created. So why do you worry about how you appear? Here, a lack of trust that your needs will be met is compared to a lack of faith. Do you lack faith and trust that you will be cared for? Do you mix up your desires for comfortability with actual needs?
Verse 31 and 32:
“So do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Fathers knows that you need”
The world will always be worried about how to provide for themselves and their loved ones. But the world doest have Jesus. The world does not know their Creator like you do. You have a Father who knows your every need, so do not be like the world.
And with that we have arrived back full circle. Matthew 6:33.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be give to you as well”
These things. Our food. Our drink. Our clothing. Everything we need to live in this world and carry out our purpose is intimately know by your Father.
Our job? To seek HIS kingdom. To seek the things of the heavenly realm and to chase after his heart.
That, and not to worry.
Some of us have more of a tendency to worry than others. Living a life without worry is not as simple as just deciding not to worry one day. Living a life without worry comes from seeking the LORD and his kingdom on the daily. It comes from retraining your brain to think about all these things from God’s perspective and not the world’s. Its tough to give up and repent for the years of worry, but our God is the God of redemption and the God of second chances. He doesn’t want a life of worry for you.
Worry can be crippling.
Are you ready to let go of it?
