"For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you
shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not
life more than food, and the body than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they
do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by being anxious can
add a single cubit to his life's span? And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how
the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that
even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so
arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the
furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? Do not be anxious
then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe
ourselves?' For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows
that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all
these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow
will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -(Matthew 6:25-34)
A man went to a psychologist and said, "Doctor, sometimes I feel like a Teepee and
at other times I feel like a Wigwam." The doctor thought about it for a moment and
then he said, "I better treat you for anxiety. You're two tents!"
Now that I have your attention by that bad joke, I might add that anxiety is no joke.
Some of us can relate to the Charlie Brown cartoon that shows Linus dragging his blanket
as he observes, "You look kinda depressed,." "I worry about school a
lot," Charlie Brown replies. Then he adds, "I worry about my worrying so much
about school." As Charlie and Linus sit on a log together, Charlie makes his final
observation - "My anxieties have anxieties!"
In our world, stress is a way of life. And so many people are filled with anxiety about
so many things. A Worth/Roper Survey last year found that among the things that produce
anxiety in Americans are the following: making wrong choice with major investment; having
major dental work or surgery; being audited by IRS; speaking in public; being outdoors
alone at night; getting fat; being pulled over for speeding; seeing one's spouse flirt;
doing taxes by self; being caught in a lie by a close friend; having a credit card
declined in public; and using a computer. I am sure the list could go on and on. Perhaps
our anxieties do have anxieties.
Do you experience anxiety in your life? Are there unresolved issues, nagging problems,
worries over health, finances, work, and relationships? What success have you had in
dealing with these kinds of problems? Have you accepted worry and anxiety as a natural
part of your life?
Of course, we are not the first people to experience stress and anxiety, although we
may think that ours is greater than anyone else's. Anxiety, however, has been around for a
long time. And it has been afflicting us for centuries. In Jesus' day, anxiety was
everywhere, as it is today. The people standing on that mountainside when He delivered the
Sermon on the Mount were no different than you or me. They had to deal with the problems
of paying their bills, feeding their families, pleasing their employers, raising their
children, paying their taxes and saving for the future just like we do.
What would Jesus say to them to help them deal with the pressures and fears of living?
Well, Jesus did not skirt the issue, nor did He give them some pious platitude. He gave
them a cure for anxiety. He dealt directly with the cause and cure for the worried,
anxious heart.
Jesus flatly says, do not be anxious. Was He serious? How can He expect us not
to be anxious considering the many things with which we have to deal?
The obvious answer is "Yes, Jesus was and still is serious." And He is not
only serious, He exposes the reasons why it is futile to be anxious.
We should not be anxious because there is more to life than things. He
speaks of people being anxious over food, clothing, and length of life. And
He reminds them that life is more than food, and the body than clothing.
Additionally, by worrying none of us can add a single cubit to his life's span. In
other words, anxiety is futile because life is more than things. It is more than the
material. It is more than the physical. It has an eternal dimension to it that is beyond
us.
So many in our day measure their life in terms of those things that surround them. But
those things are deceptive in nature. While they may appear to have lasting value and
worth, they are by nature temporary. In a moment they could be gone. Furthermore, they are
not nearly as important as so many other things. Husband, wife, children, family and
friends all have a higher priority (or should have) than things. Virtues like honesty,
integrity, kindness, mercy, patience, faithfulness and love are all far more important
than stuff. Life is more than things. Don't let them control your thoughts.
We should also not be anxious because we have a heavenly Father who will provide.
Pointing to the birds of the air and the lilies of the field and observing
that they are both fed and clothed by the heavenly Father, Jesus makes several important
points. By pointing them out it is obvious that they do not spend any time worrying about
things. I have never seen a bird flying around wringing his hands over where he was going
to find a worm. The lilies are not taking extra-strength pain-reliever because of a
tension headache. God takes care of them. And Jesus points out that we are worth much
more than they and that if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive
today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you?
If we are going to conquer worry, we must come to the realization that God loves us and
that He will take care of us. So many people are simply not convinced of this fact. Many
of them are Christians. But is you really believe that God is in charge, and that He loves
you and will meet your needs, then you can relax in faith. If you for some reason do not
believe that God will take care of you, then you will be unable to relax. You will feel
that it is up to you to take care of all your needs, physical, emotional, and even
spiritual.
Then Jesus tells us that we should not be anxious because we can only live one
day at a time. In other words, we can only live in the present - in today. This
should be obvious, but to many it does not matter. They know that tomorrow is
coming and they are determined to worry about it.
E. Stanley Jones said, "Worry is the interest we pay on tomorrow's troubles."
He was right. Being anxious over what is yet to be and may not be is suffering in advance
for something that may never happen. It is living in the "what ifs." What if
this happens, or that happens? Well, what if it doesn't? And what if it does? Will you not
have enough time to worry about it then? Jesus said that each day has enough trouble of
its own. Deal with today. Let tomorrow take care of itself. After all, tomorrow never
comes. When it gets here it is today.
Are you borrowing tomorrow's troubles? Have you developed a lifestyle of worry? Chronic
worriers often worry about not having something to worry about. Don't turn into one.
Determine to live today. Turn tomorrow over to the Lord.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be
added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
Jesus then issues the supreme challenge to every believer. He tells us that our
focus should be God's kingdom and righteousness. If our focus is on us, then we
will continually be worried about us. But if our focus is on the things of God, then we
will be concerned with something other than us.
God's kingdom is the domain of His rule. To be concerned or focused on that is
to be involved in the extension and expansion of His kingdom. It is to desire to see His
kingdom rule flourish everywhere. This, of course, means that we desire to see His kingdom
come in our lives. We desire to see His will be done in our lives. It is not, you see, a
theoretical kind of academic endeavor. Unless we submit ourselves to His authority in
practical ways, we have not come under His rule. To say that He is Lord of our lives and
to live in contradiction to His will expressed in His Word is to simply lie. To seek His
kingdom is to seek to put our lives, our families, our marriages, our work, and our
finances under his authority. It is to seek to do His will.
To seek His righteousness is to seek to live by dependence on His live in us. We
have no righteousness of our own. Even as Christians, we have none. The righteousness we
bear is imputed righteousness. That means that it is the righteousness of another counted
as our own. When Jesus died on the Cross, He died there for you and me. When he paid the
penalty for our sin, His righteousness was imputed to us. He took our sin and gave us His
righteousness. It is His, not ours. Therefore, we can never boast in our own good works or
righteous deeds. We didn't save ourselves by good works and we do not keep ourselves saved
by good works. It is all by the grace of God through faith.
So we must live daily depending on the life of Christ. We must come to Him and seek His
face. We must read His Word and pray. We must open our hearts to Him and humble ourselves
to receive from Him all that we need. We must trust in His work in us to bring us to
maturity. We cannot do it ourselves. He began the work in us and He must complete it. When
we stand before God in the final day, none of us will say to the Lord that we are
responsible for being there. We will marvel at the grace of God.
But not only must we seek His kingdom and righteousness, it should be our supreme
priority. Jesus said that we should seek first His kingdom and His
righteousness. It should be first on our priority list.
There is nothing more important than the Lord. Do you really believe that statement?
Most of us would say yes. But, if we really believe that there is nothing more important
than the Lord, why do we live as though almost everything was?
It has been said that most Christians are practical atheists. Professing to believe in
God, we turn to everything else before God. Two deacons were discussing the financial
situation of a church and one said to the other, "Well, I suppose we should pray
about this." The other replied with concern, "My, has it come to that!"
Indeed, it should begin with that! Our challenge is to put the Lord first in every area of
our lives.
As we do, our needs will be met as we focus on Him. This is what Jesus
promised - and all these things shall be added to you. In other words, as we
concern ourselves with the things of God, He will concern Himself with the things we need.
This is one of the divine paradoxes in Scripture. Jesus told us that if we sought to
save our lives we would lose them, but is we gave them away we would find them. A paradox.
Here we are told that if we turn our attention away from our needs that our needs would be
met. Another paradox. Now, we believe that if we don't take care of our concerns no one
will. God asks us to believe the opposite. He asks us to trust Him. He asks us to focus on
Him. He asks us to put Him first in all things.
This is the challenge for all believers - to practically trust Christ. It is to live
out what you say you believe. It is to make Him Lord over your life in practical ways.
This, you see, is the cure for anxiety. I am anxious when I think that I am alone in
this life. I am anxious when I think that it all depends on me. I am anxious when I do not
trust in the goodness and provision of the Lord to take care of me. I am anxious when my
focus is on me and my needs. I am anxious when I think I need to manipulate circumstances
to get my needs met. But when I trust, genuinely trust, in the Lord, the anxiety level
falls rapidly.
The choice is ours. We can choose to borrow trouble from tomorrow and live life as if
God is not there, or we can trust Him and seek Him with all our hearts.
The prophet Habakkuk gave us all a challenge when he said:
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail,
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold,
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the LORD,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord GOD is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds' feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
Copyright (C) 1995 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
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