Meditations: Matthew 6:31-32

Copyright Clarissa Pardue 2014
Copyright Clarissa Pardue 2014

Matthew 6:31-32
AMP

31Therefore do no worry and be anxious saying, What are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we going to have to wear? 32For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek after all these things; and your heavenly Father well knows that you need them all.

 

First God gives us a command, “Do not worry.” Worry, then, is something we choose to do or not do. This is interesting in itself because worry always comes with a sense of helplessness. Tell someone to stop worrying and their answer will likely be, “I can’t!” We honestly believe this when we say it, but God states quite clearly that we can stop worrying if we choose to. So when we worry we are actually listening to, and believing, two lies instead of one. We are listening to the lie that inspires the worry, and we are listening to the lie that says we are helpless to stop the worrying. Once again, listening to lies leads us to sin, in this case the sin of worry.

“For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek after all these things.” Why do the Gentiles (heathen) seek them? Because they have to! Unlike us, they don’t have a heavenly Father who sees their needs and supplies those needs. Like street children, they must grub around for whatever they can find and then fight to keep it. We, on the other hand, are our Father’s children. What child of a good, loving and prosperous father has to worry about food, drink or clothing? For that child to worry is absurd. For me to worry is absurd! “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C