On Sunday I had the opportunity to preach on one of the most personally convicting passages in all of Scripture. These words of Jesus are so beautifully simple while simultaneously cutting to the core of what we believe about the character of our Heavenly Father…

What words am I referring to? “Do not worry…”

In Matthew 6:25-34, during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says this:

“Therefore I say to you, do not 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? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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?

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Wow…

I hope you’ll take the time to listen to the full message on this because there’s more in there than I could possibly blog about here! But I thought it would be valuable to remind us of a few key things from this text:


1) “do not worry” is a direct command from the Lord Jesus.

It is not simply a motivational meme or a nice thought - it’s an instruction that we are to obey. So while we find solace and comfort in these words of Christ, we also need to respond as disciples. Because “do not worry” is a command, disobedience to it is sin - sin that we cannot tolerate in our lives. When fear and doubt and anxiety come crashing in, we have an obligation to bring those thoughts under the authority of Jesus, and replace them with declarations of faith - like the words of Jesus in Matthew 6.


2) The birds are provided with everything they need by focusing on only one thing - doing what they were created to do.

You and I were created to bring glory to God - period. In our marriages, our families, our workplace, our work ethic, our attitude… everything we do is intended to be for the glory of God. If we will make that our priority, we will find all of our needs met by the Lord.


3) What do you really believe about the character of your Heavenly Father?

Do you believe, deep down, that He is actually more concerned with the details of a bird's life than yours?! Jesus tells us to look around at creation, where we will see non-stop testimonies to the truth that our Heavenly Father is concerned with the details of His creation. That should cause us to say, “Wow - and I’m His son/daughter! How much more must He care about me!”


4) Worry, doubt, fear, stress, and anxiety over the future are all faith issues.

When Jesus says, “O you of little faith” He is drawing our attention to the heart of the issue - our hearts. Worry about the future reveals a lack of confidence in the character of our Heavenly Father. It reveals that we don’t truly believe He’ll provide for us. That’s a faithissue of the most serious kind, and that’s why it’s not OK for believers to live lives full of anxiety. We may saywe believe in a loving Heavenly Father... but our fearover the future reveals that we really don’t. Jesus says that when we do that, we’re living our lives as though we don't have a loving Father in Heaven - which is exactly how non-believers live.


5) Your Heavenly Father knows what you need and you can have confidence in His character.

He cares about you. He doesn’t need information from you (“Well, Lord… I’m having some issues at work and paying my bills…”) - He needs trust from you. Because our lack of trust hinders His ability to work in our lives. Thank Him for His faithfulness - past, present, and future - and trust that He knows what you need.


6) We have the emotional capacity to be concerned with today.

That’s it. Jesus is our Creator, so when He says, “This is how you’re wired”, we should pay attention and take Him at His Word. Jesus wants us to have vision and plan for the future but not depend on the future. He wants us to depend upon our Heavenly Father’s goodness - which is unchanging! Jesus tells us not to become negatively emotionally involved in the future because the future belongs to Him. He holds it in His hands - we don’t.


Are you seeing why this portion of Scripture is so challenging?!

I pray that you would meditate on this passage deeply this week. Repent of any fear and anxiety over the future and instead replace it with confidence in the goodness of our Heavenly Father… because He is worthy of our confidence.

I leave you this week with the words of the Apostle Paul:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6–7

Thou shalt chill. Amen.