TEXT
Matthew 6:25–34
KEY VERSE
“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”
Matthew 6:34
REFLECTION
Most times, we find ourselves carrying things that have not yet come, worrying about tomorrow while we are still living today.
Jesus knew what was troubling the people listening to Him: food, drink, clothing, the ordinary necessities of life. Jesus was not speaking to people whose lives were free from uncertainty. Yet He says, “Take no thought for your life.”
Then He gives them something to look at: “Behold the fowls of the air.” Why? “Your heavenly Father feedeth them.”
If the birds are taken care of by our Father in heaven, He asks, “Are ye not much better than they?” We are. We matter so much to God. If God could not spare His own Son for us all, there is literally nothing He cannot give us together with Jesus (Romans 8:32).
Then Jesus moves from birds to flowers. “Consider the lilies of the field.” If God cares this much for grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, “shall he not much more clothe you?”
We may say that our needs are beyond clothes and food, but that would lead me to ask: are they beyond the knowledge and capability of our Father’s care and ability?
See how Jesus keeps bringing us back to the same truth: our Father cares for us.
That is why the answer to anxiety is not simply, “Stop thinking about our problems.” Jesus gives us something better to think about: our heavenly Father knows, and He cares so much.
“Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”
It is actually out of place for a Christian, a child of God, to worry. Imagine as a capable father, if your child is worrying about what you are capable of, it shows that he does not know his place as a son, or that he does not know his father too well.
Our heavenly Father is not ignorant of our needs.
He knows the things we are trying to figure out. He knows the things we are afraid will happen. He knows the needs we have not yet been able to meet. And He knows tomorrow too.
But then Jesus says something that may be even more practical: “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”
Worry actually feels productive. It feels like we are doing something. We rehearse the conversation, calculate every possibility, imagine the worst outcome, and lie awake trying to solve a problem that has not yet arrived. But Jesus asks: What has all that worrying actually added?
Has anxiety given us another day? Has it supplied the money? Has it changed the outcome or brought the healing? Has it added anything to our lives?
Sometimes worry gives us the illusion of control without giving us any actual control.
As Christians, Jesus wants us, as much as possible, to live a worry-free life, focusing our minds on living for God and making His kingdom our primary concern.
Tomorrow will bring whatever tomorrow brings. Jesus does not promise that tomorrow will have no trouble, but we do not have to carry tomorrow today.
Today has enough trouble of its own. Your heavenly Father cares.
PRAYER
Father, help us to receive today’s grace without carrying tomorrow’s troubles, trusting that You already know what we will need when tomorrow comes.
TODAY’S CHALLENGE
Read Matthew 6:25–34 slowly once more. Notice every time Jesus tells us to look, consider, think, or seek.
Then ask yourself:
- What trouble from tomorrow have I brought into today? 2. Can I name it before God and leave it there right now?
KEY TAKEAWAY
Jesus does not promise a trouble-free tomorrow. He reminds us that tomorrow will never arrive outside the care of our heavenly Father.
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