Jesus is calling us to pick a side. We can't serve two masters. Living for God means giving up a sense of control. When we are getting anxious, we are anxious over the things we can't control. Jesus says we are wasting our energy because our idea of control is an illusion.
Verse 25 says "Is not life more than food, and the body more the clothing?" We talked about how being anxious about these things and things like it reduces our life to mere food and clothing. I don't want to reduce my life to that. If that's what is most important to me, what's the point? Jesus offers a depth that I can't muster up. We don't realize how shallow we make our lives by being anxious.
We also ack perspective. We think our lives will be over if we don't pass this test. Is that what I'm living for? I'm living for something bigger than a good grade, bigger than a college degree, bigger than a lot of money, bigger than a happy marriage, I'm living to be used for purposes too big for my mind to grasp. I live in pursuit of a joy that is impossible to attain apart from divine grace.
Birds and flowers are examples of things fully dependent on God. They are helpless. If I was that dependent on God for my basic needs, I think I'd die of an anxiety attack. Ironically, I am fully dependent on God for my basic needs and I live in an illusion of independence. God gives and God takes away. My means of providing for myself are in his hands. By faking self sufficiency, I steal God's glory and his recognition as provider. My lack of trust says God does not love me enough to give me what I need or that he is not capable of meeting my needs. It says that I know what I need better than the one who created me.
But God is the perfect, loving provider. I am called to be holy as he is holy. I need to care for the birds and flowers in my life. Who has God put around me? Who can I encourage? Who can I provide for? How can I use the money God has given me? I treat my money like it's meant for my good. In a sense it is for my good. But my view of good is messed up. I will find deepest joy when I provide for others. In the process, I show that I trust in God more than my money to provide for me.
Laura and I were talking the other day about how we should give and then ask for God to supply for us. Read Luke 11:5-8. Here the man offered something to his friend that he did not have, then asked his other friend to meet his needs because he had already committed to provide for this man. So God is even more willing to meet our needs when we give more than we have to be of service to others. I'm being brief, but it took me a while to understand this concept. It's encouraging though because I should be generous with the money I have and sometimes the resources I don't have. I don't plan to get in tons of debt to save the world, but I do see the value in living in a way that you need God to come through; a life with no back up plan.
Things to think about: What do I need? What will last? Who am I relying on? Am I trying to be God or am I letting him be God?
I won't always have everything I need. There are strong Christians who suffer daily, some without food and clothes. There may not always be provision for my body, but there will always be provision for my soul. Even if I die of thirst, I have living water so that I will never spiritually thirst.
The passage tells us to seek first the kingdom of Heaven. When I get anxious and desire things that don't last I need to ask myself if I am building up the kingdom of Morgan or of God. The sermon on the mount points out where people are following the rules yet God isn't involved. I need to ask myself where is God? Where is he in my life, in this decision, in this anxiety?
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