Matthew
6:28-34
New
Living Translation (NLT)
“And
why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and
how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon
in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if
God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and
thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do
you have so little faith?
“So
don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What
will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the
thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all
your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live
righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
“So
don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own
worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
When
we think of the love of parents for their children we think of
unconditional love. A parent would gladly expend his/her life to save
the life of their child. Unconditional love is therefore
translatable into limitless concern over the welfare of the child.
Love is of the Kingdom of God and as such unconditional and limitless
commitments are appropriate. We must come to the cold realization,
however, that such unconditional, limitless commitment can enslave us
if misapplied. Jesus was clearly concerned in the above passage with
a tendency for human beings to have unlimited concerns for future
provisions. That is to say, since I do not know now what will be
necessary to sustain me 10 years from now, I therefore tend to set
about piling up unlimited resources to protect me from future
uncertainties. No amount set aside is ever deemed sufficient. I must
sacrifice urgent callings to invest in my present environment to placate my
unlimited anxieties about the future. Clearly, Jesus was correct in
understanding the danger of denying present needs for future
uncertainties. When we deny ourselves or others daily bread in order
to hoard up unlimited resources for the specter of towering unlimited future needs, then we paradoxically imperil the future by torpedoing the
present welfare necessary to get us there in the first place. Thus,
we need to focus on the present and in some sense trust God to supply
future needs. We need to seek first the Kingdom and freely follow our
conscience in love and concern in meeting today's needs and only then
by compassionately focusing on the present will we have a future in
our future. The lack of appreciation for this paradox (focus on
today provides for a future) causes great mischief in human affairs
for otherwise it's a trite truism that responsible people duly
sacrifice the present for the future.
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