Jesus said, take “no thought”!

This year of 2020 has brought with it a spirit of worry and fear. But none of this is surprising to God; He’s omnipotent and omnipresent. The events of this year should only bring the child of God closer to the Father. The reality is the child of God should have no concerns in Christ Jesus. Our thoughts control us! Jesus said several times in Matthew 6:25-32, “Take no thought.” 

Serve One Master

Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either, he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the One and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon, Matthew 6:24. First, Jesus gives the basis of why we worry in verse 24. Then in verses 25-27, He says, don’t worry about your life or what you shall eat or drink, nor about your body, what you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Too many times in my life, I’ve heard what you wear and drive means you’re worth. So, you go into debt to buy things you can’t afford to impress people who don’t care. Then your worry starts! How do I pay for this? God doesn’t mean for us to be mastered by the temporary, but by the eternal.

God made man for fellowship with Him; see Genesis 3. The man Adam listened to his wife, not the One who gave him the wife—forfeiting the Lord God’s position in his life. Want for man came when he gave ear to the outlaw spirit of Satan. I imagine Jesus saying, “don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Yes, I’m worth more, and the Lord intends to take care of our every need. But we doubt He will; that doubt is reverse faith. Faith is a positive expectation of good, and the Bible has a lot to say about faith. For starters, without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him Heb. 11:6. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, diligent is a word characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort. The weight of Jesus’ words manifest when you know and understand who He is. He is God speaking to you. He said, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner, John 5:19. Want to see God in motion? Look at Jesus!

Don’t Worry, Let Your Heavenly Father Take Care Of You! 

Jesus said, look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Jesus followed that with a question. Are you of more value than they? Remember, the Bible speaks of a bird being worth a few copper coins, Luke 12:6. Indeed, you are worth more than a few pennies! God created man in His likeness and image, Gen. 1:26. Jesus continued to call attention to the wasted activity of worry. Did he say, which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? The answer is nobody! So, why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. What Jesus says next is my favorite part of this scripture: Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Matt. 6:26-30.

God Cares!

Caring about my life is my heavenly Father’s responsibility? But how do I rest in that? It’s not enough to know and understand the scriptures. I ponder how this may become a part of my reality to be acted upon, not just words. God says, don’t worry because we are more valuable than the things we concern ourselves with, but do we believe that? The key to this question is God loves you; you are His beloved. The reality is all the love you need Father God has provided and demonstrated through the finished works of Jesus Christ at the cross. It’s His love for us, not our love for Him, that saves us. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, II Corin. 5:21. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for his friends, John 15:13. Jesus is our best friend!