Do not worry about your life. —Matthew
6:25
How easy
following this command would be if we could just decide, once and for all, to
stop worrying about the world and its demands; if, having pledged ourselves to
Jesus, we could just forget about the things that used to obsess us. But
answering the call is never this easy. The cares of this world, the
deceitfulness of riches, the pull of desire and hunger and lust—these are
recurring tides, always lapping at our shores. If we don’t allow the Spirit of
God to rise up against them, they’ll come flooding in.
Jesus is
telling us to be careful about one thing only: our relationship to him. Common
sense shouts that this is ridiculous, that we must think about what we’re going
to eat and drink and wear. Jesus says we must not. Beware of thinking that
Jesus’s words don’t apply to your particular circumstances, that he doesn’t
understand what you’re going through right now. Jesus understands your
circumstances better than you do, and he says you must not make these things
the central concern of your life. Whenever there’s a competition, put your
relationship to God first.
“Each day
has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). How much trouble has begun
to threaten you today? What mean little imps have been looking in and saying,
“What are you going to do next month, next summer, next year?” “Do not be
anxious,” Paul tells us (Philippians 4:6). Look again, and think, drawing your
awareness to the “much more” of your heavenly Father: “Will he not much more
clothe you—you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30).
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